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How De Minaur's 43 hard-court wins all added up to be a chart-topper

  • Posted: Jan 22, 2026

During the Australian Open, ATPTour.com will bring fans insight into the leaders of key statistical categories, showing how performances throughout 2025 all added up to successful seasons and the promise of more good times ahead in 2026.

Australian Alex de Minaur was a force on hard courts in 2025, tallying a tour-leading 43 wins and smashing his previous benchmarks on the surface.

One of the fastest players on Tour, De Minaur suffocates his opponents from the baseline with his blistering court coverage, squeaky-clean ballstriking and his relentless tenacity. His grit was on full display at the ATP 500 in Washington, D.C., where he dramatically saved three championship points to edge Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.

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Speaking after his first-round win at the Australian Open, De Minaur said that two tactics to take time away from opponents have underpinned his success on hard courts: flat groundstrokes and playing close to the baseline.

“My shots on both sides are on the flatter side, which means that the ball kind of skids through when it hits the court… if the ball is coming back to your opponent quicker and quicker, it’s not really allowing him to think most of the time,” De Minaur said.

“I have always felt that I have been able to use my speed to retrieve and play defensive, but one of the biggest things that has helped me take that next step is use my speed to take time away from my opponents and that’s where court positioning is super important.

“It’s much harder than if I’m a couple meters behind the baseline, and then my ball is slow and loopy and my opponent has all the time in the world to generate and hit winners past me, especially with the way the guys are hitting the ball nowadays. When they’ve got time, they are crunching the ball. So I’m doing my best not to give my opponents time.”

De Minaur’s Hard-Court Record, Past Three Seasons

2025 43-17
2024 30-15
2023 36-18

 

De Minaur’s triumph in Washington, D.C. marked his 10th tour-level title, eight of which have come on hard courts. Among his other standout hard-court results in 2025, the 26-year-old reached the quarter-finals at both the Australian Open and US Open. He was a finalist in Rotterdam and a semi-finalist in Beijing and Vienna.

While De Minaur recorded the most hard-court match wins last season, Jannik Sinner boasted the highest winning percentage on the surface (92.9 per cent, 39-3 match record). Sinner won five of his six titles in 2025 on hard courts, including the Australian Open and the Nitto ATP Finals in his home country Italy. De Minaur was fifth in hard-court winning percentage last season behind Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic and Felix Auger-Aliassime.

2025 Hard-Court Winning Percentage

Player Win % Record
Jannik Sinner 92.9 39-3
Carlos Alcaraz 84.4 38-7
Novak Djokovic 78.1 25-7
Felix Auger-Aliassime 73.2 41-15
Alex de Minaur 71.7 43-17

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Visit our Infosys ATP Stats section for more insights.

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Sinner cruises on at Australian Open, tips his cap to Alcaraz's magic touch

  • Posted: Jan 22, 2026

Jannik Sinner continued his smooth march toward a potential third straight Australian Open crown on Thursday night, dispatching home favourite James Duckworth 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 with clinical efficiency.

The second seed was relentless throughout, extending his flawless 9-0 record against Australian opponents at Grand Slam events. Sinner faced little trouble on serve, erasing all three break points he encountered, according to Infosys Stats.

“Every match is very difficult, so I’m very happy to be in the next round,” Sinner said in his on-court interview. “I was returning very well today, and my serve was also good, so I’m very happy about my performance. I want to thank you guys [the crowd]. I know I’m not Australian, but you have been very fair to me, so thank you for the support.”

Sinner booked a third-round clash with American Eliot Spizzirri, and while a showdown with rival and World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz could only come in the final, the Italian couldn’t resist a light-hearted nod to the Spaniard when the topic of drop shots arose.

“I think we all know who has the best drop shots… Carlos, of course,” Sinner said of Alcaraz, with whom he has split the past eight major titles.

The No. 2 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Sinner is aiming to become just the second man in the Open Era — alongside Novak Djokovic — to lift three consecutive Australian Open trophies.

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Wawrinka wins 5-set thriller to roll back years, reach Australian Open R3

  • Posted: Jan 22, 2026

Stan Wawrinka added another memorable moment to his farewell season on Thursday afternoon at the Australian Open, carving his name into the record books once more.

The 40-year-old Swiss battled past determined French qualifier Arthur Gea 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(3) in a gripping four-hour, 33-minute encounter to become the oldest man to reach the third round at Melbourne Park since Ken Rosewall achieved the feat at age 44 in 1978. The former World No. 3, who lifted his first of three Grand Slam trophies at the Australian Open in 2014, is set to retire at the end of the season.

“Exhausted… As I told you, it’s my last Australian Open, so I’m trying to last as long as possible,” Wawrinka said in his on-court interview. “I’m not young anymore, so I need your [crowd] energy. It’s an amazing feeling to be on this court and have so much amazing support.”

The marathon win marked Wawrinka’s 58th five-set match (31–27), the most of any player in the Open Era, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index. Drawing on his vast experience, he edged past the 21-year-old Gea, who was contesting his first five-set match at tour level.

Advancing to the third round in Melbourne for the 12th time in his career, Wawrinka will next take on ninth seed Taylor Fritz or Vit Kopriva.

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Cilic ties Ivansevic for most wins by Croatian man in Open Era

  • Posted: Jan 22, 2026

Marin Cilic reached parity with one of his iconic countrymen after a commanding second-round performance on Thursday at the Australian Open.

With his 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 triumph against Denis Shapovalov at Melbourne Park, the 37-year-old Cilic earned his 599th tour-level victory, drawing him level with former World No. 2 and 2001 Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic for the most wins by a Croatian man in the Open Era.

“I think it is an incredible achievement for any Croatian,” Cilic told ATPTour.com in Melbourne. “I know Goran. When I was working with him he said, ‘Nobody told me I had 599. I would have played another one!’. We were laughing.

“Just fantastic to be in this position. Obviously different careers, different times. We are both different kind of players. But also in order to achieve this number of victories you have to be so consistent for so many years. So it’s a great achievement for a Croatian.”

Cilic, himself a former No. 3 in the PIF ATP Rankings and a Grand Slam titlist at the 2014 US Open, can hit another milestone on Saturday in Melbourne. He will bid to surpass Ivanisevic and notch his 600th tour-level win when he faces 12th seed Casper Ruud or Jaume Munar. The Croatian would become just the second active player to hit 600 wins after Novak Djokovic.

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Djokovic, in full control & moving freely, reaches Australian Open R3

  • Posted: Jan 22, 2026

Novak Djokovic cruised to a convincing second-round victory Thursday at the Australian Open, where the record 10-time champion downed Francesco Maestrelli 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.

Playing just his second match since winning his 101st tour-level title in Athens in November, the 38-year-old moved efficiently as ever and struck the ball cleanly throughout the afternoon, a positive sign for the Serbian’s form in the early stages of the tournament.

Djokovic, who claimed his 100th match win at the Australian Open in the opening round, needed seven set points to clinch the 47-minute opener. Rarely relinquishing control in baseline rallies, Djokovic will be pleased with his dominant serving display, having won 86 per cent (43/50) of his first-serve points.

When faced with two break points in his opening service game of the second set, Djokovic drew forehand return errors from the 23-year-old qualifier, who before the match called his clash against the 24-time major titlist “one of the most exciting things of my life”.

Djokovic is now one win shy of 400 victories at Slam level. Should he defeat his next opponent, Botic van de Zandschulp or Shang Juncheng, Djokovic will become the first player to record 400 major match wins. Van de Zandschulp stunned Djokovic last year at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Indian Wells, tying their Lexus ATP Head2Head series at 1-1. Djokovic has never faced Shang.

Making his 21st appearance at Melbourne Park, Djokovic is seeded to meet Italian Lorenzo Musetti in the quarter-finals and two-time defending champion Jannik Sinner in the last four.

Musetti flew past countryman Lorenzo Sonego 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 to match his career-best result at the season’s first major. The fifth seed created 23 break chances, converting six, according to Infosys Stats. Musetti, 23, will next meet 31st seed Stefanos Tsitsipas or Czech Tomas Machac.

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