Alex de Minaur conceded he felt like he had been "slapped across the face" after the home favourite's Australian Open title hopes were ended by a straight-sets defeat to Jannik Sinner.

World number one Sinner made light work of the Australian, emerging a 6-3 6-2 6-1 victor in just one hour and 48 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.

De Minaur has now lost all 10 of his ATP tour-level meetings with the Italian, who has prevailed in straight sets in nine of those.

After reaching his first quarter-final at his home slam, the 25-year-old was disappointed not to gain a stronger foothold in the contest. 

"He's built this aura from beating everyone," he told reporters during his post-match press conference. "It's not like he's just had a good week here or a good week there.

"The fact that he's got this top level that he can do this to players, it's pretty tough. You go into the match, and you know it's going to be a battle.

"He comes out of the blocks in the sets so well. Whenever we've played, it feels like the first three games, four games, he gets the early break.

"Then, all of a sudden, we never really end up getting to the later stages of sets, where all of a sudden you can have scoreboard pressure, the rallies can get a little bit tense, and I can ask more questions and get the crowd involved. It is disappointing.  

"I wanted to do well here. I thought I handled it really well to put myself in this position. I would have loved to do more today, but this is what sometimes happens in tennis.

"After playing some great tennis on home soil and gaining so much, you just feel like you have been slapped across the face, to be honest, to finish off like that."

A complete performance.@janniksin was at his brutal, balletic and brilliant best to defeat Alex De Minaur 6-3 6-2 6-1 to set up a semifinal date with Ben Shelton.@wwos • @espn • @eurosport • @wowowtennis • #AusOpen • #AO2025 pic.twitter.com/1a3mOeiQpq

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 22, 2025

De Minaur was appearing in the last eight at a fifth successive major while becoming the first Australian since Nick Kyrgios 10 years earlier to reach the men's singles quarter-finals at Melbourne Park.

And the world number eight is adamant he can build on his momentum and go even further on the bigger stages.

"I still don't think this is my ceiling. I still think I've got more in the tank, so I'll be searching for that," he added.

"It's pretty tough right now for me to sit here after this defeat and tell you that I believe I can go all the way. But saying that, I do think that there are opportunities out there. 

"I genuinely think I'm going to give myself opportunities, and I don't think my peak is making quarter-finals in a slam.

"I see other players that have made it further, have made semis, have made finals, and I do believe that I can be amongst them. If they have been able to accomplish that, then why not me?"