'It was weird': De Minaur beats Hewitt in Aussie tussle

Alex de Minaur beats Cruz Hewitt in all-Australian clash at the DC OpenPosted Fri 31 Jul 2026 at 10:33amFri 31 Jul 2026 at 10:33amYoung gun Cruz Hewitt (right) had no answer against Australian world number six Alex de Minaur at the DC Open. (Getty Images: Emilee Chinn)In short:Alex de Minaur says he's sure he'll have many more battles on court against Cruz Hewitt after beating the young Australian at the DC Open.Hewitt lost 6-2, 6-3, but his round of 32 win over Marcos Giron will see him shoot more than 250 spots to 360 in the world rankings.What's next?De Minaur will next face American Brandon Nakashima in the quarter-finals of the DC Open.Alex de Minaur has cast aside sentiment to end Cruz Hewitt's breakout run and storm into the Washington Open quarter-finals.The top seed and defending champion produced a clinical display to defeat the 17-year-old Hewitt, son of former world number one Lleyton, 6-2, 6-3 in just 61 minutes.De Minaur shared a warm embrace with Hewitt at the net as Lleyton looked on from the stands at Stadium Court."It was definitely weird," de Minaur said."I knew I was going to play him on the tour some day, but I didn't actually expect it to be this week. It was an amazing feeling."A Wimbledon boys' finalist this month, Hewitt idolised de Minaur while growing up around the Davis Cup team captained by his father."Even [with] all the lead-up, seeing all the incredible pictures that we have together and how we've grown up, I'm glad I managed to get through," de Minaur said."But I'm sure we're going to have many battles in the years to come."Australia's world number six charged to the net with authority and displayed great hands en route to improving his win-loss record to 29-14 this season.Despite his defeat, Hewitt is set to soar some 252 spots in the rankings to a fresh career high of about world number 360 after qualifying in Washington and then winning his maiden ATP match.Competing for the first time since marrying British WTA star Katie Boulter this month, de Minaur next faces American Brandon Nakashima, who ousted seventh-seed Jakub Mensik 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-4 to reach his second consecutive Washington quarter-final.Nakashima holds a 2-1 edge over the Australian, with de Minaur's lone win against the American also coming in last year's quarter-finals before he went on to lift the title.AAP