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2 months ago
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Australia's Alex De Minaur reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals for the first time as he beat rising Frenchman Arthur Fils 6-2 6-4 4-6 6-3 on Monday.
The ninth seed looked in control for two sets against the 20-year-old but Fils, bidding to become the youngest Frenchman in the professional era to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final, responded superbly to extend the Court One contest.
De Minaur, watched by his girlfriend Katie Boulter, the British number one, moved clear in the fourth set though to nip the Fils comeback in the bud.
Worryingly for the 25-year-old, who will play seven-time champion Novak Djokovic or Denmark's Holger Rune in the quarter-finals, he appeared to be in some discomfort at the end.
Fans were also concerned when they spotted the Aussie shaking his head towards his coaching box.
'I'll be alright. I'll find a way,' he said.
'Thank you guys. The atmosphere was unbelievable, super proud of myself to be playing here at Wimbledon in front of you guys.'
When asked what pleased him most about his performance, an exhausted De Minaur joked: 'Getting over the finish line. I definitely made it a lot harder than I probably should of.
Alex de Minaur came through his Wimbledon last-16 clash, but picked up an injury
He hurt his ankle on match point during his victory over Arthur Fils in SW19
'Happy to get through. Great job mentally to stay with it, even though I couldn't serve at the end. I couldn't hold my serve, I just backed my return. But very happy with that and on to the next.'
On playing Djokovic or Rune in the quarter final: 'I'm just excited to be in the quarter-finals, have another battle and give myself another shot.'
De Minaur has previously reached two Grand Slam quarter-finals, losing to Dominic Thiem at the 2020 U.S. Open and Alexander Zverev at the French Open this year.
English (US)