Querrey ousts De Minaur from Open

Local teen Alex De Minaur is off to the gym after being out-muscled by 31st seed Sam Querrey in the second round of the Australian Open.

The prodigiously talent started strongly and held a set point against the American before falling away drastically, losing 7-6 (7-5) 6-0 6-1 in an hour and 48 minutes.

The 17-year-old was in danger of losing the final set to love but held serve at 5-0, earning rapturous cheers from the partisan crowd on show court two.

De Minaur gave up 26 kilograms in weight and 18 centimetres in height to Querrey, and left the court in no doubt that it made a difference.

“Ive just got to improve a couple things. One of the main things is my physicality. I’ve got to get a little bit bigger and a little bit stronger,” he said.

“With a couple training blocks throughout the year, I’ll be able to gain some strength, gain some muscle, some weight.

“That will really help me out.”

On the basis of his displays during the Australian summer, a bulkier De Minaur would be a scary prospect.

In the week’s first year, he qualified for the Brisbane International with impressive wins over Mikhail Kukushkin and Frances Tiafoe, falling to German world no.51 Mischa Zverev in the first round.

As a wildcard in Sydney, he beat world no.46 Benoit Paire before playing with an abdominal strain and withdrawing against Andrey Kuznetsov in the second round.

Then came his big break – a first round Australian Open success, in his first major appearance, over Gerald Melzer.

De Minaur will climb into the world’s top 250 players off the back of his impressive January.

The 2016 junior Wimbledon finalist said returning to the grand slam stage was high on his to-do list this year.

“I’m a little bit disappointed because I really felt like I was in the first set (and) had a set point. I just missed a cheap second-serve return,” he said.

“But a lot of positives to take out from that match, this week, and how I’ve been playing tennis lately.

“(Playing more majors is) the plan. I think being around these guys and playing against these guys, my level will just rise up to the occasion.”

The 17-year-old leaves his first grand slam with a $80,000 pay day, tripling his career earnings to date.

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