Alex de Minaur has cut down the equal-tallest man in professional tennis to move into the Sydney International quarter-finals for a second straight year.

In a match suspended on Tuesday night after just one game, de Minaur was relieved after returning to Ken Rosewall Arena 14 hours later to carve out a hard-earned 6-4 7-6 (7-4) victory over towering American qualifier Reilly Opelka.

Opelka, who stands as high as tennis man mountain Ivo Karlovic at 211cm, thundered down 17 aces in 11 service games.

Crucially, de Minaur nabbed the only service break of the match before rain halted play late Monday night before fighting back from 4-1 down in the second-set tiebreaker to progress.

“I think I got lucky today. Reilly’s an incredibly tough opponent,” de Minaur said.

“I took care of my chances. I would have loved to get the break in the second. I had a couple of chances, but I did well to focus on my serve and I’m glad things went my way today.”

The fifth-seeded teenage ace, who has soared from No.208 to 29th in the world since making the Sydney final last year, has become a cult hero in front of home fans.

“There’s nothing better than this. I love playing here. I love playing at home, loving playing in front of you guys and I can’t wait to just keep it going,” de Minaur said.

But the 19-year-old may have to share some of the crowd support on Thursday with fellow Sydneysider Jordan Thompson, who has made the most of his wildcard to reach the last eight for the first time in five attempts.

Argentine third seed Diego Schwartzman – the shortest man on the ATP at 170cm – was more fortunate than Opelka on Wednesday, advancing to the quarter-finals with a 6-2 6-3 win over Spanish qualifier Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

Schwartzman next plats Yoshihito Nishioka after the Japanese beat fellow qualifier Andrey Rublev of Russia 6-3 6-1.