EXCLUSIVE: Rival's Las Vegas-inspired turnaround that threatens Alex de Minaur's Australian Open run

Alex de Minaur has barely put a foot wrong across his opening three Australian Open matches, but now faces a banana peel he knows all too well.

On Sunday night he steps out onto Rod Laver Arena to face towering Kazakh player Alexander Bublik in the round of 16.

There was a time when Aussie world No.6 de Minaur would not have lost too much sleep ahead of a meeting with the 196-centimetre beanpole.

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He beat Bublik the first three times the pair met on tour, and hadn't dropped a set in the process.

Bublik was considered talented but didn't have the determination or dedication of Australia's little warrior.

He was ranked inside the top 20 men's players in the world in mid-2024 but tumbled down the list to be outside the top 80 by March 2025.

That was when his coach Artem Suprunov suggested they take a long weekend to America's Sin City, and they spent three days partying in Las Vegas in an attempt to figure out a path forward.

Since that trip, Bublik has beaten de Minaur twice and is now seeded 10th at the Australian Open.

"I'd like to say this is Alexander Bublik 2.0," former Aussie player John Millman told Wide World of Sports' The Morning Serve.

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"In March last year his coach actually suggested - they weren't playing all that well - and they actually went to Las Vegas and got it all out of their system, had quite a deep and meaningful talk, 'Are we going to do this seriously?'.

"Then version two came. Yes, you still get the drama and you still get the joker card being played - he will underarm serve, he will throw in the slice, he will hit a flat serve and still engage the crowd, but he is more locked in (now) and he's locked in at important times.

"The tough thing for Alex (de Minaur) against Bublik is this guy can win points in multiple ways. It's an exciting match-up."

De Minaur has dropped just one set across his three wins so far at Melbourne Park.

On Friday night under the lights of Rod Laver Arena he looked several classes above American player Frances Tiafoe, who at one point slumped to the court in exasperation after de Minaur refused to give up on a point, and eventually won it.

He's not the first opponent who de Minaur has run off his feet.

"He's the fastest human ever, he shrinks the court so well," Millman said of de Minaur.

"It's a daunting prospect when you're playing grand slam tennis, best of five sets tennis, against Alex de Minaur because you know it's going to be so incredibly physical."

De Minaur's speed and grit on the court has been on show his entire career.

But this season he seems to have added several kilograms of muscle, in anticipation of playing the world's two best players, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.

If de Minaur can get through Bublik on Sunday night he will more than likely face world No.1 Alcaraz in the quarter finals.

Millman believes this is the best version of de Minaur he's seen.

"I think he's serving better," Millman said.

"He had been getting his serve speeds up over the past few seasons but he's got better rhythm now, he's not over-serving to get those speeds up.

"What I mean by that is when the match wore on, he was consistent with those serve speeds but he didn't throw himself off.

"He's landing a higher percentage of first serves in. He's a good returner so he's always going to take care of his return games.

"And he's hitting a bigger ball, I think that's clear to see for everyone. He's bulked up a little bit.

"Why is he doing this? It's for (when he faces) Alcaraz and Sinner.

"A few players have been trying to do that - Casper Ruud said he needs to do it, Stefanos Tsitsipas has said he needs to do it.

"Alex has taken on that advice and it seems to be working."