After defeating Suzanne Lenglen, De Minaur advanced to the claycourt Grand Slam round, becoming the first male from his nation to do so since Lleyton Hewitt in 2004. It’s also possible that Medvedev’s mid-match stumble due to a foot problem helped Minaur win.
In his eight prior matches with De Minaur, former Paris quarterfinalist Medvedev had only lost twice. He took the lead with a break in the third game, but the 28-year-old was pushed hard in the following game before expanding his lead.
The crowd erupted in applause as De Minaur steadily recovered shots to make a late comeback, but Medvedev easily closed off the opening set to temporarily deflate his opponent.
At the beginning of the second set, Medvedev waved off a run of brilliant winners from De Minaur’s racket, but he gave up the match easily with an unforced mistake after calling a medical timeout in the middle of the set due to blisters on his foot.
As things started to pick up, the 25-year-old De Minaur stormed to a 5-1 lead and won the third set. Early in the fourth set, he traded breaks with Medvedev and then broke away for a historic victory.
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