Alex De Minaur advances in the Australian Open after his impressive win over American star Frances Tiafoe on Rod Laver Arena

The six-time major quarter-finalist is one of the tour’s consistently best performers and has failed to reach the last 16 of the grand slam just once in his last 10 attempts.

De Minaur has made no secret of his ambition to one day hold the Australian Open trophy high. But first he must take revenge on world No. 10 Alexander Bublik, who kicked off the Kazakh’s career-best run of form by beating him from two sets down in the second round at Roland-Garros last year.

Bublik defeated Argentinian Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the de Minaur match with sets of 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.

Tiafoe tried to stage an improbable late fightback after a break in the third set, drawing level and threatening to extend the match into the fourth set.

But another wild forehand from the service box return, which de Minaur barely blocked, proved Tiafoe’s undoing after saving the previous four break points with an inspired tennis performance in the penultimate game.

Even then, de Minaur faltered slightly with the finish line in sight, needing three match points – fending off a comeback point either side – to seal victory in two hours and 43 minutes.

“Frances was a great competitor, a great player and a great challenger, I have great respect for her,” he said.

“I played some of my best tennis of the tournament for two and a half sets and he lifted it when he needed to and started making great strides. “He came back and started playing with great depth and took the racquet out of my hands.

“I had to get it done and it was pretty stressful in the end but I was so relieved to get over the line.”

De Minaur had to absorb some early blows from Tiafoe, including fending off several break points in the seventh game. The latter was the beginning of de Minaur’s rise and a perfect encapsulation of why this fight turned in his favor.

Tiafoe fired a deep forehand towards him, but Minaur somehow controlled a half-volley from just inside the baseline before the American fired a careless forehand.

It wasn’t the last time De Minaur’s dogged defense came to the fore. As for former world No. 10 Tiafoe, he lacked the same patience and diligence in decision-making.

From then until the middle of the third set, De Minaur controlled the match.

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He has an incredible ability to track down balls, extend rallies and find ways to put opponents in difficult positions. Another thing De Minaur did well on Friday night was regularly being able to dictate from the baseline while shifting Tiafoe to the other end.

“I was very happy with the way I was kicking the ball in heavy conditions against an opponent who was quite strong, could maneuver the ball very well and was able to tackle me easily – but that wasn’t the case today,” De Minaur said.

Tiafoe losing the first set was a blow to his chances after such a bright start and he quickly found himself in trouble early in the second set.

Coming to break point in the third game, Tiafoe hit a superb inside-out backhand to go on top, but refused to give up as de Minaur did his best with the windshield wiper.

At one stage in a remarkable 22-shot exchange, he took a defensive shot from the doubles court on one side of the court, then raced to the other side and slid in fully extended for a forehand that miraculously went deep and neutralized the rally.

Like many other times in the match, Tiafoe blinked first before finally hitting a backhand.

It was just one point, but it summed up this contest perfectly.

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