“It felt like he was on another level to mine”: De Minaur resigned after Djokovic defeat, believes he will take Australian Open title

Novak Djokovic swept the local Alex de Minaur in three sets, conceding just 5 games in the fourth round of the Australian Open.

The Australian had passed the first three rounds of the first major of the Year without too many problems, who defeated him calmly to get into the last-8, but the former world No. 1 was too much challenge for the 22nd seed.

“At times your opponent makes it pretty difficult to execute a plan and I think today that was what he was doing,”

“It felt like he was on another level to mine, I was just trying to hang in there and at the start I was very solid and then he loosened up even more and just started swinging and it felt like he could hit winners from every place in the court, so I didn’t really know what to do out there.”

The world No. 24 referred to the injury that Djokovic has dragged through the tournament, which has not prevented him from clearly winning every match: “"I don't know. You tell me how you thought he looked out there. Playing him, I thought he was moving pretty well, so... I don't know.”, said the Aussie.

“Every service game I had I wasn’t getting free points. It felt like an uphill battle from the start and I was never able to get my teeth into the match and make it tough for him or bring those pressure moments in situations.”

“Whenever I got him on the move he was pretty good, he hit a quality shot from end range, which got him back into the front seat of a point, and then he made it quite tough for me to be aggressive by hitting it hard and flat and deep, not giving me a lot of chances to attack.”

For a place in the semifinals, the Serb will face World No. 5 Andrey Rublev, who is coming off defeating 19-year-old Holger Rune in an incredible match.