De Minaur Delivers Australia Into United Cup Quarterfinals

By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, January 6, 2026
Photo credit: United Cup Facebook

A double dose of Demon propelled Australia into the United Cup quarterfinals.

Alex de Minaur and Storm Hunter defeated Miriam Skoch and Dalibor Svrcina 6-2, 6-3, clinching Australia’s 2-1 victory over Czechia at the Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney.

Australia won Group D and advanced to the United Cup quarterfinals thanks to de Minaur’s heroics.

After two-time Grand Slam champion Barbora Krejcikova beat Maya Joint 6-4, 6-1, de Minaur was in a must-win position for the Green and Gold.

“I’m very happy with my performance,” Krejcikova said. “I’m happy with the way I played from beginning to end. I had great support as well. It was a little up and down in the first set, but I’m happy to come through.

“I was trying to be aggressive from the start, and it’s nice to have some matches under my belt. I felt a little better on the court today.”

De Minaur drilled four aces and did not drop serve in a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Miami Open champion Jakub Mensik to level the tie after two matches.

“More than anything I’m just happy with the way I bounced back,” said de Minaur, who bowed to Casper Ruud, 6-3, 6-3 in his United Cup opener on Saturday. “I felt a little bit disappointed with my first match. Obviously didn’t want to start off the year like that.

“Today I was able to play a really good match from start to finish. Yeah, there were no problems with my serve, which was a big problem on day one.

“I’m very happy that it was able to go away. As I said, super happy to still be in the tournament and
we get to have another crack.”