WHAT HAPPENED: 2025 US Open No. 8 seed Alex de Minaur was in spectacular form in his first-round match at the 2025 US Open Tuesday afternoon, taking out Australian compatriot Christopher O'Connell, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, to claim his 25th hard-court win of the year.
Utilizing the tools that saw him lift the trophy in Washington last month, de Minaur’s speed and court coverage were on firing on all cylinders in the Grandstand Tuesday afternoon, stifling O’Connell’s offensive threats. The two-time US Open quarterfinalist’s tenacious defense allowed O’Connell only 16 winners in the match, seven of which were aces, and he never once faced a break point in the one-hour, 53-minute contest.
“I”m super happy to be back here in New York. It’s great to start off with a win. It’s never easy to play against a fellow Aussie, a fellow mate, but I’m happy to be in the next round,” de Minaur said post-match. “Very happy with the way I'm playing, I’ve put myself in a good position, so hopefully I can be here in New York for a very long time.”
Clad in an all-black kit, “The Demon” wasted no time getting his first-round match underway, serving three aces and holding at love in about 60 seconds to take the first game. A single break of O’Connell’s serve in the sixth game was all de Minaur needed to tuck away the one-set lead in 32 minutes.
An early break in the third game of set two gave de Minaur the 2-1 advantage. Though his first serve percentage plummeted to 33%, he won 75% of second serves to stay on track and eventually serve it out at 5-4 for a two-set lead.
De Minaur showed no signs of letting up in the third set, earning the opening break off a netted forehand volley from O’Connell. The pressure was on the 31-year-old O’Connell, as he fended off three break points in the third game to hold and maintain a narrow 2-1 deficit. But once again, de Minaur rode the single break lead to the end, closing it out on an O’Connell forehand error.
WHAT IT MEANS: The win solidifies de Minaur’s place atop the ATP in hard-court wins this season, with 25. Closely trailing him are Ben Shelton and Taylor Fritz, with 23 each, and Carlos Alcaraz, with 22. By the end of the US Open fortnight, it’s likely those four names will shuffle around, but given how well each of these men have played lately, it’s anyone’s guess who will hold the hard-court-wins crown when it’s all said and done.
A third-round contender here last year, O’Connell now falls to 0-12 against Top 10 opponents. He and de Minaur were slated to square off in the third round of Toronto earlier this month, but O’Connell was forced to withdraw after suffering an abdominal tear in his second-round win over Stefanos Tsitsipas.
De Minaur next faces 22-year-old qualifier Shintaro Mochizuki, a straight-sets winner over Frenchman Hugo Gaston.
MATCH POINT: De Minaur’s 25th win on asphalt moves him past Patrick Rafter for the second-most hard-court wins among Australians in the Open Era with 213. But if he’s vying for the record in that department, he has quite a way to go to surpass Lleyton Hewitt’s 372 wins.
