Quarterfinals bound Demon thrills US Open crowd with Spanish skills

After 90 minutes inside New York’s Louis Armstrong Stadium, the Demon emerged victorious 6-3, 6-2, 6-1, setting him up for his sixth career Grand Slam quarterfinals appearance.

The eighth-seed De Minaur will come up against Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime at Flushing Meadows on Wednesday Australian time.

After the match, a classy De Minaur paid tribute to his Swiss opponent before showing off his multilingual skills to the delight of the crowd.

He said he took nothing for granted against Riedi who fought his way in through qualifying after returning from an injury.

“I knew he had some big, big shots, and he’s had a hell of a week coming all the way through qualifying so I wish him nothing but the best,” De Minaur said.

De Minaur, who speaks fluent English, Spanish and French, was put on the spot during the on-court interview after the match, asked to say something Spanish to the crowd gathered “from all over the world”.

He obliged to the delight of the crowd who cheered and clapped his smooth transition between English and Spanish.

“I wanted to say thank you very much to all the Hispanic people,” De Minaur said in Spanish.

“I have a little bit of Spanish blood as well.

“Here I am trying to win a lot of games and I hope I can be here in New York for a couple more days.”

Asked how he felt about his own performance, the humble Aussie said he was thrilled to be staring down his third US Open quarterfinals appearance.

“Super proud of what I’m doing and ultimately this is where I want to be,” he said.

“I want to be playing for the big titles, I want to be in contention. I’m putting myself in the right places. I’ve got another great opportunity coming up in the quarterfinals.

“I’m gonna go out there, have a swing and hopefully have some amazing crowd support like today.”

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Asked if he had been tempted to eavesdrop on the game in the next court between Russian Andrey Rublev and Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime that decided his next opponent, De Minaur said he had his eye on the prize.

“Tunnel vision, that’s what it’s all about for me - head down, play your match, play one quarter at a time, and that’s what I’ve been doing for my whole career, and that isn’t going to change now,” he said.

“Now that I’m finished, I can grab my popcorn and go ahead and watch that match.”

Originally published as Quarterfinals bound Demon thrills US Open crowd with Spanish skills