Alex de Minaur will find himself in the all too familiar position of being the last Australian man standing in a big ATP tournament before he even takes the court at the Madrid Open.
De Minaur has been waiting patiently to launch his title bid on Saturday, but the rest of the five-strong Australian men's contingent at the Spanish capital's Caja Magica have left him having to play another lone hand following the second-round exits of Alexei Popyrin and Chris O'Connell on Friday.
The 25th seed Popyrin's hopes of a deep run crumbled in his first match of the week as he suffered a disappointing 6-4 7-6 (7-4) loss to the unpredictable Kazakh Alexander Bublik, who conjured up one of his more impressive days in the 'Magic Box'.
