Alex de Minaur's staggering act after Katie Boulter exits Wimbledon
Alex de Minaur has stormed into the fourth round at Wimbledon for the first time in his career, however girlfriend Katie Boulter was sent packing from her home slam in just 51 minutes on Saturday.
Aussie star De Minaur continues to win over the English public, even after breaking British hearts for the second-straight match with a 6-3 6-4 7-5 win over local wildcard Liam Broady.
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Australia's 19th seed has now taken out two British players in as many matches following his win over Jack Draper in the second round.
However the Wimbledon crowds have adopted him as one of their own because he is dating British player Boulter.
Boulter has become the new darling of British tennis, and De Minaur is fast becoming a cult figure in the UK for his public displays of love and respect for the home heroine.
While Boulter's fairytale run at Wimbledon came to a crashing halt at the hands of Harmony Tan on Saturday, De Minaur managed to keep his own dream alive.
The Aussie said he is hoping to ride the wave of sentimental support all the way through the second week.
"It's been obviously tough playing two Brits, but I've done everything I could and I felt quite a warm welcome," De Minaur said after his clinical display against Broady.
"I'm just appreciative of that and hopefully I can keep it going and get an even bigger crowd support next couple of matches.
"Yeah, I'll take any support I can get, for sure.
"I'm pretty happy with the position I'm in right now, so hopefully I can keep it going."
Boulter hailed De Minaur as an inspiration before claiming the biggest win of her career in the second round when she beat last year's Wimbledon finalist Karolina Pliskova.
But a smitten De Minaur said the pleasure was all his to play a part in the love match of the tournament.
"I'm so proud of what she's been able to do," he said.
"Not many people know how strong she is, as a human being, as a character, how she's been able to deal with a lot in her young career.
"Not only time off, the time she's had to deal with a lot of injuries in her career.
"She hasn't been playing nearly as much on tour just because of injuries and other things happening through her life. So I think she's just an incredibly strong person."
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'The Demon' now has a huge opportunity to advance to the quarter-finals when he faces unseeded Chilean Cristian Garin in the last-16 on Monday.
"This has always been a goal of mine for a while now, to try to make second week of slams," said the world No.27, whose only quarter-final appearance at a major came at the US Open in 2020.
"I feel like I've shown great level throughout the year but, when it came to slams, I kind of haven't shown my best tennis or haven't been able to crack through that kind of first week of slams.
"Just being able to get through week one, that's the biggest thing. Doesn't have to be pretty, doesn't have to be flawless.
"But once you're in a second week of a slam, you're getting closer to the goal and you're putting yourself in positions where now all the stress is out and you can go out there and play and stay loose.
"These are the positions that I've been really trying to get to and put myself out there and just give myself a chance, play against these top guys and who knows what can happen."
De Minaur's victory helped Australia secure a staggering 23-year first at the grass-court grand slam, with four players advancing to the fourth round for the first time since 1999.
Ajla Tomljanovic, Nick Kyrgios and Jason Kubler all surged into the last-16 on Saturday, 23 years after Pat Rafter, Mark Philippoussis, Wayne Arthurs and Jelena Dokic did likewise in 1999.
with AAP
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