Michelsen joins elite group with Sampras, Roddick in reaching AO Rd. 4

Fast-rising American Alex Michelsen has charged into the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time after defeating Karen Khachanov 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-2 at Melbourne Park Saturday.

Climbing to a career-high No. 34 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, Michelsen will next meet the eighth-seeded Australian Alex De Minaur.

"I played unbelievable for most of the match; don't think I've ever hit my forehand that well," Michelsen said. "I'm super happy and hope to keep this momentum going. Been getting a lot of free points off serve. I've played the pressure points pretty well. Tiebreak, 7/5, then I hit two winners from 5-all. I don't know where it came from. It just kind of happened.

“It's easy to look at the score and be like ‘Oh, he's cruising’. But it doesn't feel like that during the match. These guys are always applying pressure, giving energy to try to knock you off your game.”

Into round 4 👊

Alex Michelsen takes out Khachanov in straight sets to advance in Melbourne!@AustralianOpen | #AusOpen

pic.twitter.com/ONqB8SuEl9

— ATP Tour (@atptour) January 18, 2025

Michelsen clipped 39 winners to just 27 unforced errors and converted all four break points that came his way, according to Infosys Stats. He also won 22 of 29 net points.

At 20 years 154 days, Michelsen becomes the fifth-youngest American man in the Open Era to reach the round of 16 at the Australian Open: Pete Sampras (18 years 169 days in 1990), Sammy Giammalva (19 years 264 days in 1982), Andy Roddick (20 years 149 days in 2003) and Shelton (20 years 112 days in 2023).

Michelsen's good friend and countryman Learner Tien (19 years, 55 days) is bidding to become the second-youngest American man in the Open Era to reach the round of 16 here.

“We did pretty much every single day of off-season together,” Michelsen said of Tien. “Really good to see the hard work is paying off. We put in a lot of hard yards this off-season.

“I stayed up pretty late watching his match against [Daniil] Medvedev the other night. He is playing unbelievable. Maybe I get like 1 per cent credit for that because I hit with him every day. We're very, very good friends. Definitely my best friend on Tour.”