US Open: Alex de Minaur beaten by Dominic Thiem in his first Grand Slam quarter-final

Well played, Alex de Minaur. Top eight in a major for the first time.

A fun ride with the promise of far more to come.

So the US Open semi-finals are Dominic Thiem (2) vs Daniil Medvedev (3), and Pablo Carreno Busta (20) vs Alexander Zverev (5).

As we already knew, we're about to get the first new men's Grand Slam winner in six years, since Marin Cilic at this same tournament, the US Open.

Thiem beat Aussie Alex de Minaur handily and said the fact that Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic (wheeee) are absent deep in the tournament is irrelevant to its magnitude, and his mindset from here on.

"It's somewhere in the back of the head of all four remaining players (the chance to win a first major)," Thiem said on ESPN's coverage.

"Of course, there's not Roger, Rafa, Novak - but there is Daniil, Sacha and Pablo. They are three amazing players and I guess every single one of us deserves this first major title.

"Everybody will give it all and that's what's on the mind. Once we step on the court, the other three (Federer, Nadal, Djokovic) are forgotten anyway."

The second seed has done it: Dominic Thiem beats Alex de Minaur 6-1 6-2 6-4.

Too good, quite simply, for the Aussie 21st seed.

It was a closer match than the scoreline indicates, with de Minaur gritty throughout, but Thiem is favourite to win the tournament for a reason.

He will play Daniil Medvedev in the semi-finals.

5-4 Thiem - he's one game away from the US Open semi-finals.

De Minaur makes an error to drop serve and he's on the brink of leaving Flushing Meadows.

4-4.

Thiem is the bazooka to de Minaur's rifle right now. The Austrian is overwhelming the Aussie, despite de Minaur digging seriously deep.

ESPN analyst and top coach Brad Gilbert reiterated in that game how much respect de Minaur has earned in the locker room by fighting for every point, even in seemingly hopeless situations. This scoreline looks lopsided but the flow of the match hasn't been, entirely.

A glimmer of life from de Minaur - he broke Thiem back to serve at 3-3, but then he dropped to 0-40.

De Minaur forced some errors from his opponent, winning four consecutive points for a game point, and hit a backhand winner down the line to hold serve.

The Aussie leads the third set 4-3.

"Don't let an effort guy off the hook," John McEnroe says on ESPN.

De Minaur races to retrieve a Thiem volley in the next game, whipping a forehand winner across court for 15-30 on Thiem's serve, and McEnroe says that's why the Aussie will be a future top-10 player.

Ugly stats for de Minaur on his serve

He's making just 53 per cent of first serves thus far and winning only 45 per cent of those points. He's actually been more successful on his second serve, winning 52 per cent of those points.

Thiem is making 63 per cent of first balls and winning 80 per cent.

The Austrian has also hit 30 winners to 12, midway through the third set.

John McEnroe with this observation on ESPN: "This is as discouraged as I've seen de Minaur."

2-1 Thiem, with the Austrian to serve.

The Aussie won't be bagelled in any set of this match but the world No.3 is well on his way to victory and a semi-finals spot.

De Minaur drops serve in the opening game of the third set, Thiem catching him out with a lob for the final point, with Demon netting his get.

There it is: 6-2.

Dominic Thiem is two sets up against Alex de Minaur, who needs a miracle at Flushing Meadows against the world No.3.

It's the Aussie's first Grand Slam quarter-final and he's getting a lesson in big-time tennis, unfortunately. Typically gutsy but getting buried.