The Australian Open is over for the locals. Some Australians impressed and others didn't live up to expectations. Here's how we graded them.

Pressure is said to be a privilege, and this has never been lost on Alex de Minaur, but the world number eight has become accustomed to bearing the weight of expectation.

Alex de Minaur’s mum was all of us as she watched her son move through to the quarter-finals of the Australian Open for the first time.

Alex de Minaur busted through his Australian Open fourth-round ceiling with a brutal display against Alex Michelsen. Now, a date with world No. 1 Jannik Sinner looms.

Lleyton Hewitt and Alex de Minaur had the chance to fanboy a real-life legend at the Australian Open on Tuesday.

World No.1 and defending Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner proved far to strong for home hope Alex De Minaur as the Italian sailed into the semi-finals at Melbourne Park with a comprehensive 6-3 6-2 6-1 win.

This was de Minaur’s fourth consecutive trip to the round-of-16 in Melbourne, including straight-sets defeats from Sinner (2022) and Novak Djokovic (2023) before the heartbreak of losing to Andrey Rublev last year from two-sets-to-one up.

Now we’re talking. Here’s the real Alex de Minaur. Hitting freely. Unencumbered. Whistling while he works. He had the weight of Melbourne Park on his shoulders but now finds himself smack-bang where he desires to be.

That man was Novak Djokovic, the 10-time Australian Open champion, who got lucky to snare a set. They met only once more last year - the Shanghai final - and Sinner did the legend over again. That is the quality of the player de Minaur was trying to take down.

Shelton is the 25th American man in the Open Era man to reach the semis in Melbourne. He’s bidding to become the second straight American man to reach a Slam final after Taylor Fritz lost to Sinner in the U.S. Open final, and the first since Andy Roddick at the 2003 U.S. Open to win a major.

Local hope Alex de Minaur has suffered a straight-sets Australian Open quarter-final loss to world No.1 and defending champion Jannik Sinner.