Back to Day 5 preview: De Minaur vs Tsonga under lights

Day 5 preview: De Minaur vs Tsonga under lights

3 January 2019, by Dan Imhoff

The uncanny similarities are not lost on Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

The former world No.5’s absence from the tour for the best part of last season coincided with the meteoric rise of Australia’s new No.1.

Not that it went unnoticed to Tsonga.

Alex De Minaur announced himself with his runs in Brisbane and Sydney and a subsequent surge to the cusp of the top 30 at year’s end.

Throughout it all, Tsonga was slowly – often painstakingly – biding his time, recuperating and plotting a comeback.

On Friday night, the pair will clash for the first time.

For a player who’s been around as long as the 33-year-old Tsonga, he remembers well competing against the Australian now mentoring the teenage De Minaur.

“I think he reminds everybody of a certain Lleyton Hewitt, of course,” Tsonga said. “But, yeah, maybe a little bit more aggressive, because I played Lleyton a few times, too.

“He’s got the legs, the same legs. For sure [he’s] going to be one of the favourites in the future.”

The 19-year-old De Minaur has beaten two compatriots – Alexei Popyrin and Jordan Thompson – to make it this far but faces a step up when he takes on the supreme athletic and shot-making ability of the former Australian Open finalist.

The Frenchman won back-to-back matches for the first time since February on Wednesday with victory over Japanese lucky loser Taro Daniel, on the back of his first-round triumph over Aussie Thanasi Kokkinakis.

De Minaur and Ajla Tomljanovic are the last two Aussies in singles action and they headline Friday night’s billing.

Opening the night session, 25-year-old Tomljanovic takes on 2017 Brisbane champion and No.5 seed Karolina Pliskova. The pair has split two prior meetings but haven’t played since 2015.

“There’s no secret to how she plays, big serve, big ground-strokes,” Tomljanovic said.

“I always believe I can win, but at the same time I’m aware that I’m an underdog. But there’s always a part of me that expects to win still and pull off an upset.

“I think I will go swing freely … I know if I don’t I’m going to lose because she’s such a great player.”

Last year, A Belarusian qualifier with a fearless game plan, hilariously frank on-court interviews and a love of mushroom risotto made a surprise run through seven matches to reach the women’s final.


On Wednesday night, that Belarusian – the now 30th-ranked Aliaksandra Sasnovich – avenged defeat from that final over top seed Elina Svitolina.

On Friday, she meets Croatian Donna Vekic for a place in the semi-finals.

Vekic saved two match points to deny Dutch No.6 seed Kiki Bertens on Wednesday and holds a 2-0 record over Sasnovich.

Former champion Milos Raonic returns to Pat Rafter Arena for the first time this season when he meets Russian fourth seed Daniil Medvedev.

The Canadian defeated Roger Federer for the 2016 men’s title before falling to De Minaur in the first round last year.

Only two places separate the pair in the rankings, with world No.16 Medvedev coming off a straight-sets win over Andy Murray on Wednesday night.

Medvedev claimed the Sydney title as a qualifier last season before adding two further titles to his haul in 2018. He beat Raonic in Tokyo in the pair’s only prior meeting.