Alex De Minaur was proud to have left his heart on Court Philippe Chatrier, but his hopes of reaching the French Open semi-final have been reduced to dust on the clay court of Roland Garros by ruthless Olympic champion Alexander Zverev.
The first Australian to reach the quarter-finals since Lleyton Hewitt two decades ago, De Minaur’s unlikely adventure was halted when the towering German won 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.
But De Minaur was far from falling from grace in Wednesday’s straight sets at the end of a glorious and revolutionary adventure at Roland Garros in which he showed he could live with the best, even on his least productive surface.
De Minaur (pictured) can hold his head high despite his straight sets loss to Alexander Zverev in the French Open quarter-finals.
Clay is the worst surface for the Australian, but he still stood out in Paris
‘Demon’ became the first Australian to reach the quarterfinals in 20 years
“I put up a great fight…against a quality opponent,” he said.
“(I had) my chances, I probably should have won the second set and we would have had a proper battle.”
‘I left my heart out there. I did everything I could. “It just wasn’t good enough.”
Although he lost, ‘Demon’ gave the Grand Slam its most touching moments after befriending a superfan known only as Paul after the superfan’s support helped him progress in Paris.
He hugged the youngster on court after he attacked him non-stop during his comeback win over Jan-Lennard Struff in the third round, and then called on other tennis fans to help him find him before his next match.
When De Minaur beat Daniil Medvedev to reach the quarterfinals, he hugged Paul courtside and told him in French, “I listened to you on every point,” and said he “achieved a miracle” thanks to his support.
Before the loss to Zverev, Paul – who is French, not Australian – was filmed wearing the exact same outfit as his hero after being gifted a smaller version of the star’s suit.
De Minaur’s camaraderie with a young French superfan known only as Paul (pictured together) provided fans with the most touching moments of the Open so far.
Before the loss to Zverev, Paul was seen putting on the same outfit as his hero after being given a scaled-down version of the Australian’s suit (pictured).
In the end, Zverev proved too strong as he took his record against the Australian to 8-2 and reached his fourth consecutive semi-final at the French Open.
The 27-year-old had been involved in two grueling five-setters in his last two matches and had been on court four hours longer than the Australian.
But there were no signs of fatigue or distraction from external events in the process due to the alleged assault on an ex-partner who is still in Germany.
De Minaur attacked, never giving Zverev a moment’s peace as he tried to push the German out of his comfort zone.
But ‘Demon’ was left sighing at the missed opportunities in the second quarter, after earning a set point and leading 4-0 in the tiebreaker.
‘Winning that changes the whole game, but it didn’t happen. “He escaped from us,” he stated.
The loss gives Zverev an 8-2 lead over De Minaur, who blew a 4-0 lead in the tiebreaker.
It was a magnificent draw from the start, as a fast-paced 25-shot rally capped by a drop-shot winner from De Minaur set the tone in the second game.
There were a series of extraordinary rallies, including an epic in the second set in which De Minaur leaped into the air only to miss Zverev’s lob, but still had the speed to pull back, recover the ball and finally claim the point.
But it was not enough for De Minaur.
‘Sure, I had some good highlights (but) highlights don’t win you games. “I would rather be boring and win the game,” he said.
Encouraged again by his new French teenage ‘superfan’ Paul, decked out in a replica of ‘Demon’s’ NSW blue kit, there was plenty of ‘blue wall’ resistance from the 25-year-old from the start, but aggression was the slogan.
A dismal service game at 3-3 effectively cost him the first set, and he had his big chance to equalize when leading 6-5 in the next, as another beautiful lob earned him a set point.
However, Zverev not only rescued the game, he came back from 4-0 down in a thrilling tiebreaker to earn a set point by outlasting the Sydney player in a 39-shot comeback.
The Australian’s next stop is the grass courts of Wimbledon, the home Grand Slam of his British girlfriend Katie Boulter
A devastated De Minaur then unleashed a forehand long, causing the sinking feeling of having to pull off the first comeback from two sets down in his career.
Another break in the sixth game of the third set, which again ended with a double fault, looked fatal for De Minaur’s chances of being the first Australian to reach the Roland Garros semi-finals since Pat Rafter in 1997.
But he recovered with a fabulous volley, only for Zverev to increase the pressure again to break De Minaur for the fifth time and seal the victory in just under three hours.
“I played a pretty good fight, I did my best,” De Minaur said.
“He is a very good player, he loves clay and plays well here. He deserves today’s victory and all the credit.”
