Carlos Alcaraz moved one step closer to completing tennis’ rarest feat Tuesday, overpowering home favourite Alex de Minaur 7-5, 6-2, 6-1 to reach the Australian Open semifinals for the first time and keep his career Grand Slam bid alive.
The world No. 1 needed just over two hours at Rod Laver Arena to extinguish Australian hopes of a long-awaited home champion, leaning on precision and patience rather than his usual flair to subdue the sixth seed.
The win sets up a semifinal clash with third seed Alexander Zverev and confirms Alcaraz’s growing authority on the only major that has so far eluded him.
Alcaraz arrived in Melbourne as a six-time Grand Slam champion, having conquered Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open, but never progressed beyond the quarterfinals at the Australian Open. A title here would make the 22-year-old the youngest man in the Open Era to complete the career Grand Slam, and he is doing it the hard way, without dropping a set through five rounds.
For de Minaur, the stakes were heavy. The 26-year-old was chasing history, hoping to become the first Australian man to lift the singles trophy since Mark Edmondson in 1976. Backed by a partisan crowd and armed with relentless speed, de Minaur fought bravely, but once again ran into a ceiling he has yet to crack at this level.
Match turned on control, not chaos
Alcaraz broke early in the opening set to race to a 3-0 lead, but his reworked serve was immediately tested.
De Minaur clawed back, saving break points, levelling the set and drawing roars from the crowd with his trademark retrieval and counterpunching.
Still, when the set tightened, it was Alcaraz who blinked last, capitalising on loose errors to snatch the opener 7-5 after nearly an hour.
The contest shifted decisively in the second set. Alcaraz broke early again and this time never loosened his grip, striking clean backhand crosscourt winners and taking time away from de Minaur’s legs.
The Spaniard’s improved serving rhythm and efficient net play drained the life from the Australian, who dropped the set 6-2.
By the third, the resistance was gone.
De Minaur was broken early, his energy sapped by Alcaraz’s depth and pace.
Mixing power with drop shots and angled returns, Alcaraz closed the match with ruthless calm, sealing victory 6-1 and improving his head-to-head record against de Minaur to 6-0.
Across six meetings, the Australian has taken just two sets from Alcaraz, a stark reflection of the gap between elite contender and generational force.
Bigger picture sharpening into focus
Alcaraz finished with 26 winners, controlled the longer rallies and neutralised de Minaur’s speed by dictating point construction. More importantly, he showed tactical maturity, opting for clarity over creativity when the moment demanded it.
"I was more patient,” Alcaraz said. "Against Alex, if you rush, you lose. I waited for the right moments.”
Next comes Zverev, who beat Alcaraz in last year’s Australian Open quarterfinals and remains one of the few top players yet to win a major. It will be a stern test, but Alcaraz arrives sharper, calmer and increasingly complete.
For de Minaur, the loss extends his winless record in Grand Slam quarterfinals to 0-6. The progress is real, the belief growing, but the final leap remains elusive.