On another level: Defiant de Minaur puts on a show in front of record-breaking turn-out at Melbourne Park against Medjedovic

After being under pressure at the start, Alex de Minaur showed his class on the tennis court to fight his way back into the match before running rampant against Hamad Medjedovic 7-6(5), 6-2, 6-2, 6-1.

103,720 people entered the gates today in a new record for the Australian Open, with many coming out to watch their leading man take to the court. They had to be patient, as well as de Minaur on court, and he was able to find another level in the last two and a half sets to utterly demolish his opponent.

He covered a lot of ground on the court, and was practically everywhere sending the ball back to a flabbergasted Medjedovic. After dropping six games in the first set, de Minaur would only hand his opponent five for the rest of the match. He only faced three break points, but was able to save two of them compared to the 66% saved by Medjedovic, but he had 21 to recover from. The Serbian hit 19 aces compared to 12 from de Minaur, who dropped just one game on serve and one point in the final set.

For the first hour and a half, they would be as frustrated as de Minaur was feeling on the court, with his opponent giving him a lot to think about. It was resounding holds from the duo all the way through to a tiebreak, in which Medjedovic was presiding. A 5-2 lead was soon converted into a one-set lead, with the Aussie looking for inspiration.

The Serbian continued to keep up with the world number six, but the errors started to creep in and de Minaur pounced. The first break point came in the 18th game of the match, but was not taken by Medjedovic.

It was like a door was opened, with de Minaur creating six chances in the next game, finally getting over the line to get his nose in front for the first time in any part of the match. When one away from the set, he went 0-40 ahead before three points later levelling up the contest to the delight of the packed Rod Laver Arena.

The charge from Medjedovic was wilting with pace, as de Minaur upped his level gargantuanly. A rain delay caused the roof to be shut on the main show court at Melbourne Park, with the Aussie not fazed one bit. He came back out as a man on a mission, completely bypassing the stiff resistance of his rival to sail into a 4-0 advantage. Two games on the bounce for the former Next Gen ATP Finals champion got him back into the set, but too little too late as de Minaur took the overall lead of the match.

The final nail in the coffin seemed to have bee hammered in for Medjedovic who was racking up the unforced errors count while de Minaur continued to barrage him with class. The energetic 26-year-old passionately celebrated going 4-0 up, and finished the match with a floury of aces while losing just one point on serve in the final set. He will be up against the winner of Frances Tiafoe and Francisco Comesana.