Alex de Minaur cheers Aussie talent in run to US Open fourth round

Alex de Minaur leads a strong Australian charge into the U.S. Open round of 16 after overcoming injury concerns to beat Dan Evans in the third round on Saturday. He is the first Australian man in two decades to reach the fourth round at all four Grand Slams in one year, having also advanced to the fourth round at the Australian Open and reached the quarter-finals at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon.De Minaur is joined in the second week by fellow Australians Alexei Popyrin and Jordan Thompson. Popyrin notably executed a stunning upset of defending champion Novak Djokovic on Friday. De Minaur will face Thompson in his next match."Aussie tennis is showing what we can do with putting ourselves in the deep end of the tournament. And look, it's a good problem to have the fact that (Thompson and I are) playing each other in the fourth round," he told reporters."I'm expecting an absolute battle."De Minaur overcame a hip injury to defeat Finnish qualifier Otto Virtanen and Briton Dan Evans, advancing to the fourth round of the U.S. Open for the second consecutive year. De Minaur had been in doubt for his second-round match due to a hip injury that had forced him to pull out of his Wimbledon quarter-final against Novak Djokovic in July.Despite his injury concerns, De Minaur managed to beat Virtanen in straight sets. He then faced Dan Evans at Louis Armstrong Stadium on Saturday, winning 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-0, 6-0."There was stages there where I was sliding from the back of the court and even coming to the net and sliding into volleys and moving quite fluidly, which is something that I definitely haven't done as of yet in this tournament," he said."It's exactly the way I want to be trending now."