Ricky’s pick for the Australian Open quarterfinal between Sinner and De Minaur

Good news for Alex de Minaur: he is in the quarterfinals of his home slam for the first time in his career.

Bad news: he has to go up against Jannik Sinner.

De Minaur would rather face anyone else, but it will be Sinner on the other side of the net at the Australian Open on Wednesday night. The head-to-head series is 9-0 to Sinner, and that doesn’t even tell the full story. In 21 total sets between the two, the Italian has won 20. The only one he lost was in a tiebreaker, and he has won 19 of his 20 prior to a ‘breaker. It’s total domination.

For the Aussie faithful, at least some heart can be taken from the fact that De Minaur appears to be playing the best tennis of his career. The world No. 8 is 6-0 so far this year with two United Cup victories plus wins at Melbourne Park over Botic van de Zandschulp, Tristan Boyer, Francisco Cerundolo, and Alex Michelsen. Only Cerundolo managed to take a set in the first round rounds.

Unfortunately for De Minaur, Sinner is also in peak form–and it’s safe to say that Sinner’s peak is a lot higher than De Minaur’s. The world No. 1 went 73-6 last season and he is 4-0 so far this year with win in Melbourne at the expense of Nicolas Jarry, Tristan Schoolkate, Marcos Giron, and Holger Rune. Sinner struggled in the heat for a while against Rune but emerged mostly unscathed.

The bottom line is that it’s tough to look past the H2H history. Sinner has dominated his last 12 sets against De Minaur 6-4, 6-1, 6-4, 6-1, 6-3, 6-0, 7-5, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4, 6-3, and 6-4.

Pick: Sinner in 3

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.