Alex de Minaur was in Nick Kyrgios’s house, making himself at home, wooing the crowd as his own. One quiet Australian replacing a very loud one, and finally having his time in the sun. It was more than 24 hours since Kyrgios withdrew from the Australian Open, but he is somehow here, commanding the airwaves and column inches. Tuesday’s headlines were about the so-called feud between Kyrgios and De Minaur. Or, more accurately, Kyrgios’s denial that there is a feud, that they are “close mates on tour and he always will be”.
But though his ghost lingers, Kyrgios was not at John Cain Arena, the court he so loves and that loves him back in all its riotous glory. His withdrawal meant De Minaur’s first-round match was moved here and it is De Minaur the locals came to see. What they witnessed was a professional, assertive straight-sets defeat of the Taiwan qualifier Hsu Yu Hsiou.
De Minaur won 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 without fuss or bravado or antics of any kind. It would be fair to say he won unobtrusively, but also in a manner befitting a world No 24 who a fortnight ago upset Rafael Nadal and in November saw off Daniil Medvedev.
It was not without personality, either. He walked on to court with a red tennis bag he had written on with a black marker. One side read “Don’t worry” and the other “Be happy”.
“Just like the song,” he said. “It’s my 2023 new year resolution. It reminds me just to take it a little bit easier on myself.”
It is sometimes overlooked that the 23-year-old is ranked so high, given his game is so often played in the shadow of his compatriot sitting three places above. But an excellent game it is nonetheless and one that has yielded six quarter-final or better results at tour level in the past 12 months, along with fourth-round runs at last year’s Australian Open and Wimbledon.
As day two’s tournament-halting heat was replaced with tournament-halting rain, De Minaur set about exhibiting his brand of speed and consistency, dismantling Hsu on his grand-slam debut and securing passage to the second round, where he will face either John Isner or Adrian Mannarino. Should he progress from there, more considerable challenges await, including a potential third-round meeting with Pablo Carreño Busta and fourth-round match against Novak Djokovic.
“[I have] a lot of confidence,” De Minaur said of his United Cup win over Nadal – a career best. “I knew I had that level for a while … now I know I can do it every week. I just have to back myself. Every day in my life, I just want to get better. Going step by step, I’ll do everything I can. I feel better than last year so hopefully I can reach a better level.”
Hsu did not give a bad account of himself. His style was not dissimilar to that of De Minaurt and his decision-making was sound, albeit not supported by a level of execution that would trouble an opponent ranked 184 places higher. He settled his nerves with an important first-game hold featuring an exquisite and ungettable cross-court volley. The second point of the match – a 20-shot rally – may have offered a sign of things to come, except that De Minaur’s defensive game was far too strong, and Hsu always founding himself hitting just one more ball until his unforced error count settled at 48.
The crowd were in characteristic form, replete with Australia flags, green-and-gold shirts and placards about abstract Tinder dates. As the howling wind outside turned to fat droplets of rain and the roof was closed, John Cain Arena filled to the brim with ground-pass holders swarming the only show court into which they were allowed.
Also there in support was Lleyton Hewitt, whose feud with Kyrgios is most definitely a feud. The dichotomy was there for the taking. De Minaur, Australia’s second-ranked man, is – for this tournament at least – Australia’s first-ranked man and the cheers indicated the people are not too fussy as long as they are watching good tennis.
“I’m just happy to be playing here in Australia, playing in front of you guys,” De Minaur said. “It doesn’t matter who I play, I’ll be up for it. You guys just bring the energy and I’ll be ready.”
Thanasi Kokkinakis will have to wait to confirm his place in the second round after his opening match was suspended. Kokkinakis was leading 6-1, 6-2, 4-2 and up 40-15 when officials made the call to abandon all matches on outside courts because of persistent rain.
A day of extreme heat and a torrential downpour at Melbourne Park has thrown the tournament’s schedule into chaos, with a handful of Australians among the lower-profile players affected on the courts not protected from the elements.
On Tuesday evening, Kokkinakis was five points away from an emphatic win over the Italian veteran Fabio Fognini at Kia Arena when the rain restarted, having halted play several times. It means the world No 110 will have to resume on Wednesday and, if successful, play his second-round match against a resurgent Andy Murray on Thursday.
Jordan Thompson was angry when play was suspended because of heat just as he was establishing some authority on his first-round match against the American JJ Wolf. “When has that ever happened? I’ve been here when it’s like 45C,” he told the chair umpire when leading 3-1 in the second set after losing the first. Once play resumed three hours later he succumbed 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.
Christopher O’Connell was also bundled out by an American, Jenson Brooksby, who rallied from a set down to claim an emphatic 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 victory in another heat-interrupted match.
But Kimberly Birrell snapped a 1,462-day grand slam drought against the Estonia veteran and 31st seed Kaia Kanepi, making the most of a wildcard entry originally set aside for Venus Williams, who withdrew because of injury last week.
“I did speak to someone that’s friends with [Williams] and I asked if she was in Melbourne,” Birrell said. “Because I thought if I saw her in the locker room, I would mention to her that I was the one that ended up getting her spot and say thank you.”
The 24-year-old, who joins Olivia Gadecki as the only other Australian woman to make the second round, will face Czech Linda Fruhvirtova, who defeated another Australian wildcard, Jaimee Fourlis, 6-0, 6-4.
Aleksandar Vukic’s opening match with fellow qualifier Brandon Holt was rescheduled with Holt leading 6-4, 1-6, 4-2 and the rescheduling of Max Purcell’s first-round match against Emil Ruusuvuori doubled as a reprieve, with the score poised at 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-6 in the Finnish world No 46’s favour.
