{"id":399031,"date":"2024-06-01T23:02:19","date_gmt":"2024-06-01T23:02:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=399031"},"modified":"2024-06-02T01:05:58","modified_gmt":"2024-06-02T01:05:58","slug":"demons-touching-moment-with-fan-after-17-year-aussie-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=399031","title":{"rendered":"Demon's touching moment with fan after 17-year Aussie first"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alex de Minaur<\/a> is the first Australian man into the fourth round at Roland-Garros<\/a> in 17 years after downing big-hitting German Jan-Lennard Struff in four sets.<\/p>\n

In another rain-interrupted match, the Aussie rallied from a set down to clinch the win and move into the second week with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 win in just under three hours.<\/p>\n

After a fist pump and a roar, de Minaur then went to a young fan in the crowd and gave him a towel and a hug.<\/p>\n

He's the first since Lleyton Hewitt<\/a> in 2007 to reach the second week.<\/p>\n

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READ MORE:\ufeff<\/strong> Cats break shackles and end dismal month of losses<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Alex<\/p>\n

"That young lad was there from the very first point till the last with five hours of rain delay," de Minaur said.<\/p>\n

"He was this little kid that every single change of ends, every single point I won, he was screaming at my face.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"I'm looking at him and thinking if I was a fan, I would probably be back home, because it was bloody cold out there.<\/p>\n

"I don't understand what this kid was doing, but he gave me life. Every single change of ends I'm looking at him, locking eyes with him. I just gave him a hug. Mate \u2026 it was a relief more than anything. It was amazing. I appreciate this kid.<\/p>\n

\"Alex<\/p>\n

"The fact that he's spent 10 hours at the court today in the freezing cold pumping me up, I was happy that I was able to get a win together with him."<\/p>\n

It's De Minaur's career-best run at the clay major, having never previously made it past the second round.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Demon's<\/p>\n

De Minaur said his back was against the wall from the get-go, with the heavy conditions suiting Struff much more than himself.<\/p>\n

He said this particular match was "another huge mental battle", but declared it one of his best mental performances.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/alexdeminaur\/status\/1796969591073046646<\/a><\/p>\n

"I knew that the conditions of the day, everything, couldn't get any worse, right?" he said.<\/p>\n

"I knew that this was just ideal conditions (for him) to a T \u2013 it's slow, heavy, rainy, muddy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"He's able to hit through the court and not really make a lot of mistakes.<\/p>\n

Watch Roland-Garros 2024 live and exclusively free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>. Plus four courts in 4K UHD on<\/strong><\/em> Stan Sport<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, the home of grand slam tennis.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Alex<\/p>\n

"I just told myself the only chance or way I was going to win this match was just to fight till the end, fight every single point, keep battling, try to stay in no matter what, and that's what got me the win.<\/p>\n

"I battled through and I managed to turn it around at times where it looked quite dark out there.<\/p>\n

"I'm very happy with that."<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Thanasi Kokkinakis' Roland-Garros his come to an end after yet another five-set match \u2013 his third in succession.<\/p>\n

Against American No.12 seed Taylor Fritz, Kokkinakis fell into a two-set hole, but kept himself alive by winning the third in a tie-breaker. He won the fourth set as well but appeared to run out of puff in the fifth to lose 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (4), 5-7, 6-3.<\/p>\n

\"Thanasi<\/p>\n

In other matches, fourth-seed Alexander Zverev survived a huge scare from Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor, winning through in five sets 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (3).<\/p>\n

Daniil Medvedev cruised past Czech Tomas Machac in four sets 7-6 (4), 7-5, 1-6, 6-4, and will now face De Minaur for a spot in the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n

Kokkinakis' exit leaves de Minaur as the sole Australian on either singles draw.'<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportAU\/status\/1797002510328012941?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

"I'm looking forward to (playing Medvedev). I have won enough matches to put myself in a good spot," de Minaur said.<\/p>\n

"So I'm quite excited again to play Medi, and these are the types of matches I wanted to be playing at the start of the week, and I'm excited to put myself in that position again."<\/p>\n

They're scheduled to hit the court on Monday evening (AEST).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alex de Minaur is the first Australian man into the fourth round at Roland-Garros in 17 years after downing big-hitting German Jan-Lennard Struff in four […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":399033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399031"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=399031"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399031\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":399039,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399031\/revisions\/399039"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/399033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=399031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=399031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=399031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}