Alex de Minaur is marching on handsomely in his bid to enter Wimbledon with another grass-court triumph -- and the biggest of his career -- under his belt.
Up against an old rival from his junior days Denis Shapovalov, who defeated him 10 years ago in the Wimbledon boys' final, the Australian No.1 was in fairly ruthless mood as he crushed the Canadian 6-4 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals of the prestigious Queen's Club Championship.
Now up to a joint career-high of No.6 in the world rankings while Shapovalov, who also once made the top 10, has slipped to No.41, de Minaur outplayed his old foe in just 64 minutes on Wednesday.
After reaching the final in 's-Hertogenbosch last week, No.1 seed de Minaur is looking to go one better this week and lift the huge men's grass-court prize that so many of the greats of Australian tennis have lifted in the past, including Lew Hoad, Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, John Newcombe and Roy Emerson.
