A year after upsetting Rafael Nadal in the United Cup, Australian world No.12 Alex de Minaur is trying to dethrone the sport’s other GOAT contender – Novak Djokovic. Live updates from 8pm AEDT below!
The top-ranked Aussie faces Djokovic in the quarter-finals of the nation vs nation event in Perth on Wednesday night, after his straight sets win over world No.10 Taylor Fritz a few nights ago helped the host nation escape the group stage by the narrowest of margins.
De Minaur has faced Djokovic just once in his career, losing 6-2 6-1 6-2 in the fourth round of last year’s Australian Open, and he has never beaten the player ranked No.1 in the world at the time of their meeting.
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Djokovic is managing a right wrist injury which he has played down, though it appeared to contribute to him dropping a set to Czech Jiri Lehecka yesterday.
“It’s no secret Novak’s level, it’s incredible, and he’s probably the GOAT, if we’re honest,” de Minaur said.
“He started the year strong. It’s going to be obviously extremely tough, but it will be a challenge that I’ll be looking forward to, to hopefully going out there and show what I can do.”
Even if the Demon can’t pull off the upset, Australia has a reasonable chance of advancing into the semi-finals, but it’ll come down to Ajla Tomljanovic against world No.121 Olga Danilovic.
But Danilovic’s ranking belies her talent, as she made a run to the third round of last year’s French Open, and took a set off Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova in this tournament.
“I think people might underestimate me because they know I haven’t played in a while,” Tomljanovic said.
“I feel like I can still play a pretty good level… I believe in myself but I’m not expecting huge things because I always try to bring myself to the reality of the situation that I haven’t played much.”
If the tie is level heading into the mixed doubles Australia will fancy their chances with West Aussies Storm Hunter and Matt Ebden unbeaten in the tournament so far. Hunter is the current women’s doubles world No.1.
Australia’s tie with Serbia gets underway not before 8pm AEDT with de Minaur and Djokovic’s three-setter first up.
Follow live updates below!
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