Round 16 turned spicy as Louis Armstrong Stadium witnessed a banger today between Australia's Alex de Minaur and Switzerland's Leandro Riedi as Minaur scored a decisive win by securing his spot in the semi-finals by a straight set victory of 6-3, 6-2, 6-1. Minaur started with a loud cheer from the crowd and also looked high on confidence with a few hard shots and strong serves in the first set, and also one of the favourites in the tournament, the 8th seed did not leave a chance for Riedi to sneak in and try out his luck, but it was just chants of Minaur all over Louis Armstrong Stadium.
De Minaur Overpowers Riedi’s Resistance to Clinch First Set 6-3
The first set looked a bit dicey with Reidi trying some variation to tackle Minaur's backhand and forehand shots, but the rhythm of Minaur and the baseline rallies, and of course, the famous trademark deep serves were the cherry on the cake. There were a few occasional nets and once or twice sharp forehands, but in vain, as there were few error shots which paved the way for Minaur to take another long serve and was like a hawkeye waiting for its prey and closed the set at 6-3.
De Minaur Marches into Quarterfinals with Relentless Straight-Sets Victory
Minaur got a major boost after this, and he increased the intensity, and this was a mix of the defensive and offensive, pretty much what we see in diplomacy and wars, and this was no less than a war. Reidi became nervous and was struggling to maintain serves, and that was another tactic of Minaur to keep Reidi under error of judgement and put more pressure, and eventually that worked as he won the set 6-2. There were a few glimpses of a comeback from Reidi, but he could score only one point and ultimately gave in after 1-6.
Minaur, with this win, advances to the quarter finals with tougher matches expected. He would hope for the same performance in those matches and maintain the same consistency, and keep the momentum ongoing.