Australian Open LIVE: Latest results and set-by-set updates as Alex de Minaur gets off to a worrying start vs Jannik Sinner – as the Aussie’s mum makes a bombshell claim about his fiancée Katie Boulter and what will happen if they ever split

There’s a reason why he is world No 1 and this might be why.

The Italian is in full flow here and has taken a 5-2 lead in this first set.

De Minaur is hanging on and is serving to stay in the set.

Meanwhile, the Italian stopped his warm-up to congratulate Ben Shelton and Lorenzo Sonego on a brilliant match, with Shelton progressing to the semi-finals.

Alex de Minaur has failed to beat Jannik Sinner in the nine times they have met in the past.

But the Australian said he wasn’t dwelling on those past results ahead of this match.

When asked about their H2H record the 25-year-old said:

You know, the great thing about tennis is that once you step out on the court, you both start at 0-0, right? It’s a whole new day, a whole new match, and anything can happen. Sports is unpredictable.

That’s exactly the mindset I’m going to have going into that match. I’m looking forward to it. That’s the matches I want to be playing. Ultimately, if there is anything, it’s going to be my first match this whole tournament where I’m the underdog and don’t have all the pressure and expectation of, you know, having to win.

So it’s quite exciting, and I’m looking forward to that.

Massive early lead for Jannik Sinner.

He goes 3-1 up against De Minaur, who has looked a little nervous at the start of this match, hitting a few errant shots.

De Minaur has hit seven unforced errors to Sinner’s eight, but the Italian’s experience is showing a little more here, with Sinner hitting six winners to De Minaur’s one.

Can the Aussie find his groove?

Alex De Minaur and Jannik Sinner have gone head-to-head 10 times during their careers on the ATP Tour.

But Sinner has outperformed De Minaur in all of those occasions, barring one, where Sinner withdrew from the match.

They last met at the 2024 Davis Cup semi-final, with Sinner clinching victory 6-3 6-4.

And the Italian has taken a 2-1 lead in the first set. There’s not much separating either player here, with Sinner winning 78 per cent of his first service points.

De Minaur and Sinner are just about to get underway here. This one is set to be huge! So grab yourself a cup of tea or a beer and get settled in for this blockbuster clash!

Alex de Minaur’s athletic talents shone clear on the court once again during his victory against Alex Michelsen on Monday.

De Minaur, who is regularly hailed as one of the fastest players on the court, showcased his agility to recover against Michelsen’s booming groundstrokes to seal victory.

But his athletic talents extend beyond the tennis court, with his mum, Esther, revealing that he had actually butted heads with his soccer coach when he was nine, over which sport he should look to pursue professionally.

She said to The Sydney Morning Herald:

I told him he had to choose between soccer and tennis, since it had become impossible to manage.

They both thought he could make it as a professional in their sport, and neither wanted to budge. Alex was the one who chose tennis in the end, and I’m so glad he did.

OK so I’m in the media centre at Melbourne Park right now and I’m just watching on the player’s gym to see what Sinner and De Minaur are up to backstage.

Despite concerns over Jannik Sinner’s fitness in recent days, with rumours spreading that Sinner had come down with a bout of pneumonia, he looks to be moving pretty comfortably here.

He’s picked up a kettlebell and it is chucking it about without much strain here.

It is still unclear what illness he had been suffering from but Sinner had admitted after his match on Monday that he wasn’t well.

The world No 1 had begun to shake uncontrollably on the court in worrying scenes for the defending Australian Open champion.

He’d leave the court for an 11-minute medical break but still looked a little uneasy.

Lorenzo might have suffered defeat against Ben Shelton but he made history today.

In a bizarre turn of events, he became the first man with one million streams on Spotify to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final.

Ben Shelton told Aussie fans inside the Rod Laver Arena they can ‘boo him and throw stuff at his head’ if he comes up against home favourite Alex de Minaur in the semi-finals.

De Minaur is just backstage right now preparing for his huge clash with world No 1 Jannik Sinner, which is coming up next on Rod Laver Arena.

Meanwhile, I’ve just seen Shelton giving John McEnroe a huge hug in the player’s tunnel.

He is absolutely bouncing around the players’s gym right now and is getting handshakes from everyone.

Ben Shelton is just a ball of energy. The American is one of tennis’ great entertainers and he showed off his insane fitness on Wednesday afternoon during his match against Lorenzo Sonego by bizarrely doing some press-ups after diving to reach a wide shot.

Ben Shelton has won it! He wins the fourth set tiebreak and the match 6-4 7-5 4-6 7-6 (7-4).

I feel relieved right now. Shout out Lorenzo Sonego. I’m just happy to be through. Got my first win on Rod Laver. One of my favourite matches of my career.

Shelton will now face off against Alex de Minaur or Jannik Sinner in the semi-final. He is one win away from being the first American male to reach the final of the Australian Open since 2003.

If it’s the home guy Alex de Minaur you guys can boo me, throw stuff at my head. I can deal with it. I know I’ve got a few people out in the crowd who are going to be pulling for me too.

Here’s the moment he won the match…

I’ve got a few candidates from the past week, but this new entry from Lorenzo Sonego is probably my favourite yet.

Lorenzo Sonego has fought back gallantly in this match, fending off Ben Shelton’s attempts to break him at 5-5.

Sonego pushed the American star from tramline to tramline, but Shelton was unable to capitalise to give himself a 6-5 lead.

Shelton would go on to serve out the remaining game to take us to a tiebreak!

The American got off to an excellent start against the world No 55, Sonego, but has faded in the last two sets.

he takes a 3-2 lead in the match but Sonego hits back, pulling the tiebreak level at 3-3.

Alex de Minaur’s mum was seen welling up on Monday night as her son booked his place in the quarter-finals of his home Grand Slam for the first time in his career.

The cameras panned over to his family, sitting in the corner of the Rod Laver Arena, with De Minaur’s mum spotted covering her face and wiping away tears before hugging Katie Boulter, De Minaur’s fiancee.

His mum, Esther, has now spoken out on the moment and the joy of her son reaching the next round of the tournament.

Speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald, Esther shed light on the efforts her son has put in over the years to get to this moment.

It was an incredible moment for me because I knew how much it meant to him and how hard he’s been working to achieve this.

He deserves every bit of success he achieves. ⁠It’s been surreal, in a way. He knew from when he was a kid that that’s what he wanted to do, but as a parent, you always support and encourage – but worry at the same time that something will go wrong, and he won’t achieve his dream.

That’s why each step towards his goal is a very emotional moment for me.

Emma Navarro called for a rule change earlier today after she came off on the wrong end of a tough call during her defeat against Iga Swiatek.

At 2-2 in the second set, Swiatek had chipped the ball over the net after it had just appeared to bounce twice. The Polish tennis star would then go on to win the point, sealing a huge victory against Navarro and holding on service.

But the chair umpire explained to Navarro that she could not review the point because the American had continued to play on after the ball had bounced twice.

I didn’t stop playing. I played the next shot, so I couldn’t see a replay. Yeah, I asked her after the point if I could see a replay, and she said, I played it, so I couldn’t see it.

On whether she believes it is fair for players to be forced to stop in the middle of a point if they wish to review a passage of play, Navarro said:

I think it should be allowed to see after the point even if you play. It happened so fast. You hit the shot, and she hits it back, and you’re just, like, Oh, I guess I’m playing.

You know, in the back of your head you’re, like, Okay, maybe I can still win the point even though it wasn’t called. It’s going to be a downer if I stop the point and it turns out it wasn’t a double bounce. Yeah, it’s tough.

I think we should be able to see it afterwards and make that call.

But Navarro did not place any blame on Swiatek for not calling the moment out herself.

It’s in the moment. Like I said, it happened so fast. I don’t know if she knew or not. Yeah, ultimately, it’s up to the ref to make the call. It is what it is, I guess. It’s tough to place blame on anybody. It’s a tough call.

I think the rules should be different that I think we, for sure, should be able it on look at it afterwards and decide.

It seems that because the American continued to play the point, the umpire was unable to go back and conduct a video review over whether the ball had bounced twice.

Had Emma Navarro stopped when the ball had bounced twice on Iga Swiatek’s court the TV umpire could have intervened and the game may have had a different ending…

Navarro will certainly be feeling there.

Matthew Lambert delves into the rules behind why Navarro wasn’t awarded a point below!

Iga Swiatek advanced to the semi-finals of the Australian Open on Wednesday afternoon after securing a 6-1 6-2 victory against Emma Navarro.

But there was a controversial moment in the match. The five-time Grand Slam winner was brought to the net by Navarro and she appeared to fend off a drop shot from the American star.

Navarro played on and clipped the ball to the other side of the court with Swiatek scrambling across to hammer back at her opponent to win the point.

But Navarro was incensed by the moment, confronting the umpire in a fit of rage asking why she was not allowed a video review.

Navarro, had been pushing for a break of service at the time, but could not make the breakthrough with Swiatek holding.

Sinner opened up on how he was feeling during his post-match press conference earlier in the week.

But he did not speak out on the specific ailment he had.

I was not feeling really well,’ said the 23-year-old. ‘I think we saw that today I was struggling physically. I knew that it was going to be very, very difficult today, playing against a tough opponent but also playing against myself a little bit.

I at least felt slightly better when I went back on court. I felt like the face looked a little bit better, the colour was a little bit back. The doctor gave me some medication.

Sinner had also consulted a medical professional before heading out onto court for his clash against Rune on Monday, adding to speculation that he had been suffering from an illness prior to the fourth-round clash.

I talked with the doctor before already, before going on the court. I had a little checkup.

Yeah, it was a bit helpful. I at least felt slightly better when I went back on court. I felt like the face looked a little bit better, the color was a little bit back.

So, yeah, that helped, for sure. You know, it’s a toughconditions. You know, yesterday was hot. Today was hot again.

You know, every player, you know, struggles a little bit. When you’re not there health-wise where you want to be, it’s also even more difficult, but it helped, yeah. It gave he some small medication, and then it wasn’t slightly better.

Major concerns arose over Jannik Sinner’s wellness during his victory against Holger Rune earlier on Monday.

It was a particularly warm and muggy day in Australia, with temperatures topping out at 32ºc.

Bashed his way to a 6-3 lead in the opening set but began to look increasingly uncomfortable during the match. At one stage he was even seen shaking.

Jim Courier claimed that he looked like a ‘zombie’ as the Italian sat down on his bench during the interchange.

He would later leave the court for a medical time out that lasted around 11 minutes – with Rune claiming that he had been left to ‘cook in the heat’ on the court.

He stated that he had been feeling unwell before the match but returned, losing the second set before sealing a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory.

Tonight’s match should start a little earlier than yesterday’s huge clash between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz.

Play is expected to get underway between 7pm and 7:30pm after Ben Shelton and Lorenzo Sonego’s quarter-final clash at the Rod Laver Arena.

And I’ve just seen De Minaur arriving at Melbourne Park for the match.

He’s making his way through the player’s gym area as he prepares for the blockbuster clash.

It’s the first time in his career that De Minaur will have reached the quarter-finals of his home slam and there was a huge outpouring of emotion after the Australian booked his place in the tournament on Monday night.

His fiancee, Katie Boulter and mum Esther were both seen jumping up and celebrating as De Minaur pushed his way past Alex Michelsen in three sets.

Esther even began to well up before giving Boulter a huge hug after the match.

Katie Boulter issued a cryptic message on Tuesday night indicating that she may have left the country.

She and Alex de Minaur have dazzled over the past two weeks in Melbourne but the Brit suffered a disappointing second-round defeat against Veronika Kudermetova last Thursday.

She’s since stayed in Melbourne to watch her new fiance battle his way to his first-ever Australian Open quarter-finals.

Boulter has been taken on board as an honourary Aussie by many of the home fans at Melbourne Park, with one commentator even asking: ‘Can we start calling you Aussie Kate?’

In the Instagram post, she published several pictures of her playing in Melbourne, Sydney and a snap of her and De Minaur at Kooyong.

She captioned the post: ‘Thank you Aussie for making me feel like I’m at home.’

But the British star added two emojis following the note that indicated she may have left the country.

Good afternoon and we’re back again here at Melbourne Park!

It’s been a warm and windy day here at but the conditions are perfect for tennis and we’ve got a few big matches kicking off tonight.

Ben Shelton has just taken the first set against Lorenzo Sonego in their quarter-finals clash, which will be followed by the match of the evening with Jannik Sinner set to go head-to-head with Alex de Minuar at the Rod Laver Arena later tonight.

But huge concerns are mounting over the Italian’s fitness. It came after reports claimed yesterday that he had allegedly been ‘suffering from pneumonia’.

It came after he was caught shaking uncontrollably during his victory against Holger Rune on Monday.

The reigning Australian Open champion had left the court to receive medical treatment and had told his team that he was feeling dizzy.

Despite that, Sinner has been back in practice this morning ahead of his match against De Minaur but the world No 1 is understood to have practised today in a behind-closed-doors session at Melbourne Park.

It is unknown the true reasoning behind the move and perhaps it may be a precaution to ensure no prying eyes can see him warming up ahead of tonight’s crunch match.

But the move has still attracted speculation and concern that he is still struggling with an illness.