De Minaur left devastated after believing he could progress in Australian Open

Alex de Minaur's confidence in his ability to defeat Andrey Rublev and advance to the quarter-finals of the Australian Open intensified the disappointment of Sunday's loss for the beloved hometown player.

On a day when both Novak Djokovic and Aryna Sabalenka, defending champions of the Australia Open, were in action, all attention in Melbourne was focused on 10th seed Alex de Minaur as he aimed to keep the home interest alive in the competition.

De Minaur was the sole Australian remaining in the singles category, and although he suffered a 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 6-3, 6-0 defeat against the fifth seed, it was a far cry from last year's early exit when he was convincingly beaten by Djokovic in straight sets.

"Perhaps a couple of years ago or even last year, I would have been content with this result, acknowledging that I probably shouldn't have won given his higher ranking. Taking him to five sets would have been seen as a decent effort," De Minaur expressed.

"However, everything has changed now. I am utterly devastated because I saw this match as a tremendous opportunity, one that I firmly believed I could have won. Unfortunately, it slipped away from me."

De Minaur managed to win the second and third sets through tiebreaks, and just when it seemed like he had his opponent, Rublev, on the ropes, the Russian fought back fiercely.

"The tough part is that I thought he was physically struggling in the third set, but then in the fourth, he unleashed his shots and everything started going in," the Australian explained.

"It wasn't a match that I lost due to physical reasons. It was simply that the control was taken away from me. It reached a point where I couldn't make him move or exploit his movement."

Despite the evident disappointment of exiting the competition at this stage for the third consecutive year, De Minaur maintains a positive outlook on his overall progress, especially after defeating Djokovic at the United Cup earlier this month.

"Look, I understand that it's a bit disheartening to be sitting here after a fourth-round loss. However, I genuinely believe that I have taken significant steps in the right direction," De Minaur affirmed.

"I feel that my level is quite high. This year, I have a 3-1 record against top-10 opponents. It's not the worst outcome, and today's match was incredibly close. I'm doing all the right things."