De Minaur joins Sinner and Medvedev in U.S. Open quarterfinals

One of the quarterfinal matchups in the top half of the U.S. Open draw is what everyone thought we would see: Jannik Sinner vs. Daniil Medvedev.

The other one is much more of a surprise: Alex de Minaur vs. Jack Draper.

De Minaur extend a hard-to-believe streak of games won to 18 in a row when he took the first set off Jordan Thompson during their fourth-round match on Monday. The world No. 10, who ended up winning the all-Australian affair 6-0, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, previously reeled off the last 12 games of his third-round showdown against Dan Evans. De Minaur double-bageled the Brit in the final two sets, prevailing 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-0, 6-0.

“I can’t say I remember if I’ve ever done that, but yeah, obviously I got off to a good start today,” the 25-year-old said after finishing off Thompson. “But the funny thing about winning sets 6-0, I don’t think it’s the best thing in the world–because I feel like there’s a bit more added pressure and your opponent just relaxes a little bit more.

“But yeah, again, I couldn’t have asked for a better start today and I think it was important. Yeah, (I) can’t remember the last time I won 18 games in a row.”

De Minaur is into the last eight at a third consecutive major, having also reached this stage at Roland Garros (lost to Alexander Zverev in straight sets) and Wimbledon (withdrew against Novak Djokovic due to a hip injury).

De Minaur is 3-0 lifetime against Draper. Medvedev holds a 7-5 record in his head-to-head series with Sinner heading into Wednesday.

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.