Demon into another quarter-final: Alex de Minaur turns up the heat against an inform Bublik to set up Alcaraz clash

The Australian crowd were once again treated to a delightful display by Alex de Minaur, who was rampant in a 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 victory over the deadly Alexander Bublik.

It was his toughest test of the tournament, but from the second set onwards it looked like a training drill for the Aussie number one as he made a second consecutive Australian Open quarter-final in emphatic fashion.

Bublik was unable to keep up with the energetic de Minaur who got to a ridiculously high level. He forgot the final two matchup defeats to Bublik to go on and destroy the world number 10. He won an incredible 81% of first serve points compared to an average 54% by Bublik. While Bublik hit four more winners, he also racked up 26 more unforced errors than de Minaur, a true reflection of his downfall.

The opening stages were a real tussle between the two players. Both of them were relatively comfortable on their serves while failing to make any inroads on their opponents serve. This was until right at the end of the ser where de Minaur finally produced the goods. Bublik's form started to fall slightly and the clinical Aussie capitalised on this, taking his second set point to go ahead.

From there, de Minaur turned into a 'Demon.' The unforced errors count started to ramp up for the Kazakhstani as he was unable to keep up with the sheer brilliance of de Minaur. The home favourite's level rose sharply as he raced out into a 3-0 lead.

He could have added a fifth game on the spin but Bublik survived a break point to keep him in the hunt. It was not much of one, as de Minaur repeated the fate and won three games in a row with a break sandwiched between two routine holds to move one set away from another quarter-final.

Bublik's attitude had changed. In the second set his frustrations were seeping through as he shouted at his team, furious at the level he was showing. In the third set, he could only muster up a defeated smile as the pair played some phenomenal tennis, wowing the Rod Laver Arena spectators. De Minaur was everywhere, buzzing around like a mosquito getting every ball back towards Bublik who was struggling to get anything out of this match.

He broke to love before amongst a spectacle of tennis broke again to race into a 3-0 lead. He held to love in less than a minute with Bublik preventing being bageled. It was a tall order to get anything from this tie, and he was unable to even get a sniff. In an elongated final game, he was able to get over the line with his third match point. Just over an hour and a half to finish off Bublik.

De Minaur's form has been electric this tournament. His highest level has appeared on many occasions this event as he romped past his prior opponents. This may not be the same case against the world number one Carlos Alcaraz, who he has never defeated in five previous matchups. He is looking for a maiden semi-final appearance in a Grand Slam after losing at this stage on six previous occasions.