Alex de Minaur is marching on handsomely in his bid to enter Wimbledon with another grass-court triumph -- and the biggest of his career -- under his belt.
Up against an old rival from his junior days Denis Shapovalov, who defeated him 10 years ago in the Wimbledon boys' final, the Australian No.1 was in fairly ruthless mood as he crushed the Canadian 6-4 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals of the prestigious Queen's Club Championship.
Now up to a joint career-high of No.6 in the world rankings while Shapovalov, who also once made the top 10, has slipped to No.41, de Minaur outplayed his old foe in just 64 minutes on Wednesday.
After reaching the final in 's-Hertogenbosch last week, No.1 seed de Minaur is looking to go one better this week and lift the huge men's grass-court prize that so many of the greats of Australian tennis have lifted in the past, including Lew Hoad, Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, John Newcombe and Roy Emerson.
The last Aussie to win it 20 years ago was Lleyton Hewitt, who won the title four times in all, and he was in de Minaur's players' box, urging on the 27-year-old, who's hoping to lift his third grass-court title in all after triumphs in 's-Hertogenbosch in 2024 and Eastbourne in 2021.
Mr Consistent 👏
— ATP Tour (@atptour) June 17, 2026
Alex de Minaur takes out Shapovalov to reach the last 8 at Queen’s 🌱#hsbcchampionships pic.twitter.com/YYFpxGeucE
Dangerous left-hander Shapovalov had a disappointing day, only occasionally showing off the firepower and swaggering talent that once took him into the game's elite, and after de Mianur had broken him in his first two service games, he was always on the backfoot in the opening set.
Then after holding serve at the start of the second stanza, he really capitulated, losing concentration, focus and serving up nine double faults in all as de Minaur cashed in on his distraction to set up a quarter-final date with American world No.32 Brandon Nakashima, who brushed aside Peru's Ignacio Buse 6-2 6-2.
