LISTEN: DE MINAUR TO GET FOURTH SHOT AT BRINGING DOWN ALCARAZ

With the sun beaming down on the Pista Nadal Court, Aussie No.1 Alex de Minaur sent British luck loser Jacob Fearnley packing in just under an hour from the Barcelona Open on Thursday afternoon 6-1, 6-2 to continue his fine clay court season thus far.

He came to join The First Serve for a chat after his cool down, ahead of another date with tournament favourite Carlos Alcaraz, hoping to reverse a 0-3 deficit in their head-to-head match up.

The pair played out a three-set epic at the 2022 Barcelona semi-finals, with Alcaraz prevailing 6-7, 7-6, 6-4.

Earlier in the day, Alcaraz also took care of business, proving too strong for Serbian Laslo Djere 6-2, 6-4 in a similar time frame to be an imposing 12-0 at the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona and 27-1 on Spanish clay courts since the start of the 2022 season.

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De Minaur and Alcaraz this season are joint leaders with 22 wins each on tour. It will be their second meeting this year after the three set win for Alcaraz in the Rotterdam final, but if Friday can be anything like their three hour batttle in Barcelona three years ago, the fans are in for a treat in a great quarter-final line up.

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