Australian Open 2026 as it happened: De Minaur’s heart-warming moment on RLA after brilliant victory; Kyrgios reaches the next round

Wawrinka, who boasts an unusual career distinction of winning more grand slam titles than Masters events, believes the best-of-five-set format plays to his strengths.

“Grand slams have always been, in general, better for me. I feel that I have more time to put my game, to find solutions,” said Wawrinka, who has three majors to his name.

“Also I have good confidence in my fitness level that I can handle those long matches. For me, that’s not a problem to really keep it up with the level.”

He will face his biggest test yet against American ninth seed Taylor Fritz, who has dropped only one set so far despite coping with a knee injury.

“I’m probably getting a bit overconfident with how it feels because I’m on anti-inflammatories and stuff. It’s obviously masking the pain,” Fritz said.

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“Since I was a little kid, this is where I wanted to be, where I wanted to play in front of packed crowds. I’m truly fortunate to be in this position and, yes, it gets stressful at times, but that’s only because I want it so bad, so I’ll do my best [to keep going].”

Tiafoe tried to stage an improbable late fightback after going down a break in the third set, drawing level and threatening to extend the match into a fourth.

But one more wild forehand, off a service-box return that de Minaur barely blocked back, proved Tiafoe’s undoing after saving four earlier break points with inspired tennis in what proved the penultimate game.

Even then, de Minaur needed three match points – either side of saving a break-back point – to complete victory in two hours and 43 minutes.

“Frances is a hell of a competitor, a hell of a player, and it was a hell of a battle, so huge respect to him,” he said.

“I played some of my best tennis in the tournament for two-and-a-half sets, and he lifted when he needed it, and he started going big. He started returning and playing with some great depth, taking the racquet out of my hand.

“I just had to manage it, and it was quite stressful at the end, but I’m very relieved that I got over the line.”

De Minaur continues to be one of the most consistently excellent players on the men’s tour, and has made no secret of his ambition to one day hold aloft the Australian Open trophy.

That is still more dream than reality, given the presence of Carlos Alcaraz – a potential quarter-final foe – and Jannik Sinner, but the world No.6 is in rare touch and increasingly believing he can beat the world’s best.

Either world No.10 Alexander Bublik or Argentine Tomas Martin Etcheverry, who are still on court, are up next for de Minaur.