Alex de Minaur stuns the tennis world with ‘biggest win of his career’ over former world No. 1 Daniil Medvedev at Paris Masters

Alex de Minaur, a near-man of world tennis for so long, has made a major career breakthrough by beating former world No. 1 Daniil Medvedev in an epic affair at the Paris Masters.

The Sydneysider, who has built a stellar career while seemingly always coming close to matching the true elite, earned his first-ever win over a top-five player on 19 attempts with his thrilling 6-4, 2-6, 7- 5 victory over the Russians.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Alex de Minaur stuns the tennis world with the best win of his career.

Watch the latest sport on Channel 7 or stream for free on 7plus >>

De Minaur had lost all of his previous four meetings with world no. 3, including two games in which he won the first set – and it looked like history was about to repeat itself on the hard courts at Bercy on Wednesday, when Medvedev hit back to win a 2-0 lead in the decider.

But de Minaur, always the fighter, re-formed, went on the offensive after a remarkable cat-and-mouse affair riddled with long, testing rallies and ended up looking mentally and physically stronger than the former world No. 1 .

Twenty times de Minaur came on the net in the final verse and finally Medvedev, who was also upset in the first set after a grumble over a line call and a boo from the Parisian crowd, lost his nerve and eventually collapsed.

He served two double faults in the final game, the second of which gave the 23-year-old Australian victory after a grueling but utterly engrossing two hours and 46 minutes.

The Russian eventually smashed his racquet onto the pitch while his Parisian crowd, who had already teased him throughout the competition, smashed his racquet onto the pitch – but he was quick to congratulate his never-say-the-conqueror at net.

World No. 25 de Minaur will reclaim his place as Australia No. 1 from Nick Kyrgios if he wins his next match, a round of 16 match on Thursday against world No. 21 American Frances Tiafoe, who defeats rising Brit Jack Draper has defeated 6 -3 7-5.

“I just wanted to wait for the 19th game – why in the first 18, eh?” de Minaur smiled in a post-game interview with Tennis Channel as he reflected on his long quest to beat a top-five player .

“I knew it was going to be a tough fight. He’s an incredibly strong opponent. I knew what to expect and I’m glad I played a very tactical match out there.”

Indeed, de Minaur was all the more willing to change up his game when the need arose, and his aggression in the final set left Medvedev fairly unfazed after some previous chess-like exchanges ended in more than 30 rallies on several occasions, and once to 43.

But in a battle of two natural counterattacks, it was de Minaur who ventured out of his comfort zone more often, gaining 25 points at the net.

“When you play against Daniil, you have to find a very delicate balance between solidity and aggressiveness,” said de Minaur.

“Obviously we all know what he can do with his passing shots and movement on the pitch. I was just trying to wait for the right ball and just pull back and reset my volleys.

Later, world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz sailed into the third round with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Yoshihito Nishioka, beating 30 winners, while Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime finished with a 6-7 (6-8 ) 6-4, 7-6 (8-6) winners over Sweden’s Mikael Ymer and Stefanos Tsitsipas, who beat Dan Evans 6-3, 6-4, also progressed.