Alex de Minaur saved face in an excruciating all-Aussie clash at the ATP event in Washington as he defeated the teenaged son of Australian icon Lleyton Hewitt to reach the quarter-finals.

The freshly married de Minaur played for the first time in more than three weeks after losing a Wimbledon fourth-round and then getting hitched to British player Katie Boulter.

Cruz Hewitt, 17-year-old son of Lleyton, took the 6-2, 6-3 loss as de Minaur reached the last eight of the pre-US open tune-up.

But facing the son of one of your tennis mentors was not easy for the sixth-ranked winner. who admitted that his own awkward form needs some quick improvement.

“It was definitely weird, I knew I was going to play him (Cruz) on the Tour some day, but I didn’t actually expect it to be this week,” de Minaur said.

“Even all the lead up, seeing all the incredible pictures that we have together and how we’ve both grown up. I’m glad I managed to get through, but I’m sure we’re going to have many battles in the years to come.”

But those sentiments could not distract from the oddity of paying the son of a mentor and Davis Cup captain.

“I expected Lleyton to be),in the box, and helping his son. But we both didn’t know how to kind of act, right?

“It was definitely a weird situation, but now that this has happened the next time we’ll all be ready for it, that’s for sure.”

De Minaur, 27, will now line up against Brandon Nakashima, a winner over seventh seed Jakub Mensik 7-6 (5), 3-  6-4.

De Minaur is defending his 2025 title in the US capital and somehow felt lucky to escape with the win over Hewitt, Jr after a long-ish layoff.

“(This is the ) longest I’ve been without touching a racket and it’s probably the worst I felt on court after this. The body was in bits, aching all over the place.

“I felt like I aged about 20 years over 13 days but the one thing I definitely told my team was that, ‘Yeah, I can’t take this much time off’. 

“I need the body to at least keep moving because if not it’s tough to get back on the horse.”

Seven years after his last ATP quarter-final, Australia’s definitive journeyman Bernard Tomic is back in the final eight on the Tour thanks to a breakthrough performance in Mexico.

The 33-year-old who a tennis generation ago was tipped as a fast-rising hope, hit the skids for more than half a decade hanging onto a skimpy career in the Challengers and Futures circuit.

The Australian whose father John wrote a new template for aggressive tennis parent two decades ago has managed to overcome his prolonged relegation to the lower reaches and is showing what he can do this week in Los Cabos.

Tomic, an old-school ATP villain when Nick Kyrgios was still in kindergarten, has shot back into prominence with his performance on the hardcourt, reaching the quarters over Karen Khachanov 6-2, 6-4.

He last got this far on the Tour at Atlanta, 2019, losing to up-and-coming compatriot Alex de Minaur with a second-set retirement. Taking out No 26 Khachanov was the best ranking win for Tomic since defeating 13th-ranked Fabio Fognini in 2018.

Tomic will bid for a rare semi-final on Friday, taking on Briton Cam Norrie, whose season has recently been plagued by injury; he last played in a semi at Chengdu in 2018.

Alex de Minaur began repairing his harsh 1-12 career record against Stefanos Tsitsipas, with the Australian’s 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in an ATP Washington opening match marking only his second win in the lop-sided series.

Tournament no. 1 de Minaur will now face off against 17-year-old Cruz Hewitt, who won his first ATP main draw match here this week over Marcos Giron. Lleyton Hewitt, coaching his son, was watching in the player box.

Former world No. 3 Tsitsipas, now climbing out of a slump and standing 51st, came to the North American hardcourts after winning the Gstaad clay title in the Swiss Alps this month.

It was the Greek’s first trophy in nearly 18 months.

Washington defending champion De Minaur’s match was his first since marriage in Britain to WTA player Katie Boulter only days ago.

“Coming in, I really didn’t have too many expectations. It was a quick turnaround,” De Minaur said.

“I’m glad that I was able to find a way in a tricky match. It wasn’t pretty tennis, but I did just enough to get over the line and I’m happy with that.”

The Aussie added: “Stefanos has been an incredible player for a very long time. He’s able to really hold that inside-out forehand really well.

“I didn’t serve the best when I played him. Today I changed it up a little bit and it ended up working out for me.”

Main photo:- Alex de Minaur and Katie Boulter on their wedding day © vogue.com