DE MINAUR DOMINATES, INJURED POPYRIN SUFFERS UPSET

Eighth-seed Alex de Minaur started his Australian Open campaign in stunning fashion, beating Botic van de Zandschulp, but Alexei Popyrin struggled with injury and sickness as he exited the tournament.

With strong crowd support on Rod Laver Arena, de Minaur applied early pressure, forcing long rallies that the Dutchman couldn't keep up with. The 25-year-old forced errors from the racquet of Van De Zandschulp, taking two breaks to go up 5-0 swiftly. Brilliant serving by the Aussie allowed him to take the set. 

De Minaur continued the momentum into the second set. After holding to love with an ace, the Aussie broke in the third game to lead 2-1. A backhand winner down the line cemented his lead. 

But the van de Zandschulp, who famously knocked out Carlos Alcaraz in the second-round of the US Open last year, wasn’t going to make this set easy and served well to hold. A double fault and an unforced error by de Minaur level the set at 3-3. 

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The reigning Newcombe medalist fired back to hold to love with an ace and make it 4-4. Both players played aggressively to hold once again and push the set to 5-5. De Minaur then capitalised on his opponent's errors to take the crucial break and go up 6-5, ultimately serving for a two-set lead. 

The third set was even until 4-4, with both players playing assertively and holding their service games. But the Aussie broke away in the ninth game breaking to love, once again applying the pressure, as the Dutchman crumbled with an unforced error and two double faults, falling 6-1 7-5 6-4.

After the victory, de Minaur lamented how special it was to win on the iconic court. 

"Nights like tonight is what you dream of, playing prime time on RLA," the Aussie said.

"It's special. Going out there, everyone has your back, getting you fired up. 

"It's a great feeling to go out there, play some good tennis, and get the win."

The Sydneysider has booked a second-round match-up against America’s Tristan Boyer.

Over at John Cain Arena, 25th-seed Alexei Popyrin fell to France’s Corentin Moutet in four tough sets. The Frenchman caused the upset with a 4-6 6-3 6-4 6-4 victory. 

It was evident that the match would be close by the 12-minute-long second game, where the Aussie managed to hold serve. Popyrin finally broke with the help of two unforced errors from the Frenchman to go up 5-4. He then held fiercely with a backhand winner to gain a one-set advantage.

But Popyrin was unable to carry this positive energy into the rest of the match. The Aussie called for an injury time-out early in the second set amid a variety of injury concerns.

Although Popyrin continued to fight with the crowd willing him on, Moutet was a class above on John Cain Arena.  

After the match, Popyrin talked about his perception of what unfolded. 

"I ran to a dropshot, felt a pull in my — sharp pain in my glute, like lower back side glute," he said. "I have had it before, and I knew what it was. It was really painful for me to push off my left leg and land on my left leg and do running forehands and stuff.

"It's something that I knew, I think it couldn't get worse, but I just had to dig deep and play through the pain. I tried to do that, but it's not been an easy week, that's for sure."

The 25-year-old also commented on how those niggles impacted his preparation leading into Melbourne Park.

"Throughout the week I have had little niggles, had abdominal niggles," said Popyrin.

"I've been sick for four days. Still am sick. Had to go to the doctor's office today to get some meds. It's not an excuse, nothing like that for me.

"I'm disappointed with the way I played. I take full responsibility with the way that I played, and, it was shocking. It was really bad. And I know I can do better."

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