Soaring Alex de Minaur has been gifted a major boost in his bid to challenge for the Australian Open crown by sealing a priceless top-eight seeding at his home slam.
The pre-Melbourne present came in the shape of his old foe Andrey Rublev, who knocked de Minaur out of last year's event in the fourth round, surprisingly losing his first match of the year 7500km away at the Hong Kong Open to Hungarian Fabian Marozsan.
