Shock Stefanos Tsitsipas upset opens Australian Open path for Alex de Minaur to round of 16
Young American Alex Michelsen has held his nerve to send Greek crowd favourite Stefanos Tsitsipas packing in a massive first-round boilover at the Australian Open, opening up a favourable draw for top local hope, Alex de Minaur.
Eighth seed de Minaur was already the highest-ranked player in section two of the draw, but now has a potential path to the quarter-finals without playing anyone in the top 18 seeds.
Karen Khachenov is the highest-ranked player remaining in his section of the top half of the draw, who he can face no sooner than the round of 16.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.If the cards fall that way for the Australian, defending champion and world No.1 Jannik Sinner could be waiting in the quarter-finals for him thereafter.
But he no longer has to get through 2023 finalist Tsitsipas to get there.
The deciding fourth set between Michelsen and Tsitsipas was a memorable one, with the pair trading outrageous winners along with untimely errors, the most costly of which was a double fault from 11th seed Tsitsipas on break point in the ninth game.
The 20-year-old Michelsen then served out the match 7-5, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 to claim the biggest win of his burgeoning career.
“First of all I just tried to stay super composed out there,” said Michelsen, who struggled at times with his second serve in the deciding set.
“I knew it was going to be a battle out there to the end.”
It was the first time since 2018 that Tsitsipas had lost in the first round at Melbourne Park.
He lost the 2023 final to Novak Djokovic and had also reached the semi-finals at Melbourne Park on three other occasions but is still searching for that elusive maiden major title.
Michelsen’s second-round opponent will be either Australian wildcard James McCabe or Spanish qualifier Martin Landaluce.
Later in the day session on Monday, world No.1 Jannik Sinner starts his title defence against Chilean Nicolas Jarry.
The two feature matches of the night session involve 24-time major winner Novak Djokovic and No.3 seed Carlos Alcaraz.
De Minaur will face Dutch world No.84 Dotic van de Zandschulp to kick off his Australian Open campaign on Tuesday.
Originally published on 7NEWS Sport
