A familiar opponent, Russian fifth seed Daniil Medvedev, stands between him and the quarter-finals in a showdown certain to be on one of Roland-Garros’ two biggest courts.
“[It was] another huge mental battle. I would probably say it was one of my best performances mentally I’ve had in my career to turn that match around with the conditions, with everything really against me,” de Minaur said.
“I’m extremely stoked to have made the second week of Roland-Garros.”
Rain and delays have been a theme at this year’s Roland-Garros tournament.Credit: Getty Images
De Minaur is amid easily the best year of his career, having already progressed to the fourth round at the Australian Open – where he went agonisingly close to making the quarter-finals – won back-to-back titles at Acapulco and made the Rotterdam final.
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However, this might be the 25-year-old’s finest hour, given his previous struggles on the red dirt, and puts him on track to again gatecrash the top 10.
The Medvedev clash will be their first on this surface but ninth in total. The Russian leads 6-2, but they split their past four meetings, including de Minaur claiming his maiden top-five scalp against him at the Paris Masters in late 2022, in a moment he often credits for his career surge.
“It’s a completely different match-up to today. Today, I was on the back foot at all stages [and] had a player who was trying to take control, come to the net, not staying in too long of rallies,” de Minaur said.
“Against Medvedev, it’s going to be a lot of gruelling rallies, a lot of tactical awareness from both
of us, a lot of variety, a lot of kind of change of pace [and] good movement from both, so it should be fun to play him on the clay … hopefully we can play a good match and I can go out there and show what I can do.”
Jan-Lennard Struff was in a commanding position against de Minaur.Credit: Getty Images
Struff was not the same player once play finally resumed with him leading 2-0 in the third set, whereas de Minaur – well known for his mental toughness – re-emerged in brilliant fashion.
After both players exchanged holds, de Minaur broke his rival’s serve twice in a row to reel off five consecutive games in a stunning period to snatch the third set and the momentum.
Struff will rue a litany of errors that is always a cardinal sin against a dogged competitor like de Minaur, who pounced on the 41st-ranked German’s sudden frailty as the crowd came alive.
A double-fault kick-started Struff’s demise in the sixth game of the third set, and a fluffed overhead in the third game of the fourth set accelerated his exit before a forehand halfway up the net gifted the Australian the break four points later. Even still, de Minaur had to dig himself out of some challenging service games of his own, which was a theme throughout the match.
Struff brought up two separate break-back points after dropping serve but could not convert either. He had two more chances as de Minaur attempted to go 5-3 ahead, only for the Sydneysider to again perform his best Houdini impression and take a major step to victory.
Struff converted only four of his 14 break points overall, compared to de Minaur’s seven from 10, the last of which came in the final game of the contest as he sealed his fourth-round spot.
De Minaur also endured a one-hour break in play during his second-round dismissal of Jaume Munar, with his mental edge over most opponents proving an even greater weapon in this tournament.
He is adamant he is a “completely different player” on clay these days, even if Paris’ gloomy conditions did not help his cause against Struff, in particular.
De Minaur needed all his fighting qualities to outlast Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff.Credit: AP
Clay already blunts de Minaur’s famed ability to steal time away from his opponents, whereas Struff – this year’s Munich Open champion on the same surface – thrives on having extra time to tee off on his forehand.
Struff did most of his damage off that wing, including caning a return winner in the third game of the match to secure his first break and send an early warning of his racquet fireworks.
De Minaur managed to break Struff back in the next game, but was rarely untroubled on his own serve.
In fact, by the time he trudged off in the rain delay he had only once avoided a 30-all scenario or worse from 11 service games.
The only time he did not in that period was a love hold the game before he broke Struff to claim the second set.
De Minaur admirably absorbed the relentless pressure – and Struff’s thumping groundstrokes – to hang in, which eventually proved crucial.
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