Alex de Minaur defeated good mate Jordan Thompson in a titanic all-Australian showdown in the fourth round of the US Open, reaching another milestone in his outstanding Grand Slam season.

De Minaur put friendship aside to end Thompson’s spirited campaign with a hard-fought 6-0, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory, becoming the first Australian since Lleyton Hewitt 20 years ago to reach three consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinals.

His reputation rising with each win, the 10th seed will next face English world number 25 Jack Draper on Thursday morning (AEST) in an Ashes-style battle for a coveted place in the last four.

After arriving in New York with poor fitness and “low expectations,” de Minaur has regained his faith and form and can now quietly enter the title hunt.

De Minaur moved freely and showed no signs of the hip injury that had destroyed his Wimbledon and Olympic dreams, and showed little mercy to his childhood friend and Davis Cup teammate.

Thompson fought tooth and nail and threatened to take the match into a deciding set before de Minaur’s class and relentlessness finally prevailed.

Thompson was simply forced to throw his racket on the court in frustration while suffering the ignominy of a bagel in the first set.

And even after Thompson finally won a game and then recovered from a 40-0 deficit to win the second set, de Minaur didn’t let up and quickly got back to work.

The Frenchman, a Wimbledon and now US Open quarter-finalist, regained the upper hand to take a 2-1 lead, and Thompson smashed his racket even more and cursed at his racquet as he felt the match slipping away from him.

With a final stand, Thompson managed a break at the beginning of the fourth set, raising hopes of a famous comeback from the underdog.

But it was anything but friendly that de Minaur immediately hit back and, after a back-and-forth fourth set with four breaks, finally defeated Thompson and took the win after two hours and 57 minutes.

Despite all the heroics of Thompson and Novak Djokovic-conqueror Alexei Popyrin in the first week, de Minaur is once again Australia’s last survivor at the final Major of the season.

The top player’s feat of reaching three consecutive quarterfinals at a Grand Slam tournament is something that even former world number one Ash Barty and former women’s US Open champion Samantha Stosur have not managed to achieve in the course of their outstanding careers.

No Australian has achieved this since Hewitt in the 2004/05 season.

After reaching the last eight at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, the two-time major winner also reached the finals at Flushing Meadows and Melbourne Park.

Having also become the first Australian since Hewitt two decades ago to reach the second week of all four majors in a calendar year, de Minaur now hopes to repeat his 2004 Davis Cup captain’s feat and reach the final.

He has a golden chance as de Minaur has won all three previous meetings with Draper, including the last two on hard courts.

If he can continue his advance through the draw, de Minaur will face either world number one Jannik Sinner, 2021 US Open champion Daniil Medvedev or 14th seed Tommy Paul in his first Grand Slam semifinal.

Although Thompson’s career is over, the 30-year-old leaves the Big Apple with a salary of half a million dollars and his highest world ranking to date (29th place). This puts him well on course to be seeded for his first Grand Slam tournament at the Australian Open in January.

In the other men’s quarterfinals, Americans Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe will play higher-ranked Alexander Zverev and Grigor Dimitrov on Wednesday morning (AEST), while Medvedev will face the winner of Tuesday’s match between Sinner and Paul on Thursday.

In the women’s competition, American Emma Navarro will face Spaniard Paula Badosa on Wednesday morning and Chinese Qinwhen Zheng will face Aryna Sabalenka. Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia will play Karolina Muchová on Thursday morning and American Jessica Pegula will play world number one Iga Świątek.

AAP