Alex de Minaur is marching into new territory, dismantling one of the game’s powerhouses Daniil Medvedev to become the first Australian man to make the French Open quarter-finals in two decades.

The slight Sydneysider with the big heart and electric speed came from a set down on Monday to defeat the former US Open champ Medvedev 4-6 6-2 6-1 6-3 to make it to just his second quarter-final in a grand slam.

‘Demon’ becomes the first Aussie male player to make the last-eight at the French since his idol, mentor and Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt in 2004.

And a measure of the magnitude of his achievement is that in the last 42 years, only  world No.1s Hewitt twice (2001 and 2004) and Pat Rafter (1997), among Australian men, have got this far. 

“I didn’t expect to be in the quarter-finals here at Roland Garros because I didn’t play well on clay over the last few years, so it’s surprising for me,” he said, delighting the Court Suzanne Lenglen crowd by addressing them in French.

“Against Daniil, it’s always a tactical game. We both defend well and we have to change the way we play the ball … it’s difficult for me to explain in French.

“I’m so happy to have won today and we’ll see how it goes in the quarter-finals.”

The victory represented a major breakthrough for the indefatigable de Minaur, the world No.11 who had lost all six of his previous grand slam matches against top-five players. 

Fifth-seed Medvedev had knocked him out in last year’s US Open and held a 6-2 head-to-head advantage over him but on the clay the Russian has never enjoyed, it was the Australian who employed all the key gambits to set up a last-eight date with either Olympic champ Alexander Zverev or Denmark’s 13th seed Holger Rune.

Too fast, too inventive, too attacking, he overcame a nervy start to grow in confidence and reduced the man who’s featured in six grand slam finals to frustration as he constantly pierced Medvedev’s famed ‘Octopus’ defence with 51 searing winners.

The sun came out for the first time this tournament and the sunshine boy turned up too, pulling off a scintillating turnaround after Medvedev, who had never got past the quarter-final here, initially had him on the back foot.

Medvedev missed out on four break points in the opening game but cashed in when de Minaur double-faulted to grab the break that ultimately sealed the opener.

Cleverly varying the pace and height of his groundstrokes, Medvedev gave the Australian no rhythm to work with, and de Minaur’s early work was strangely mistake-riddled, as he dished up 19 unforced errors. 

More aggressive in the second, de Minaur, cheered on his players’ box by fellow player Thanasi Kokkinakis, took the initiative, but a sea change occurred after the Russian took a medical timeout mid-set for a blistered foot.

When he resumed, de Minaur rocked Medvedev with a searing backhand crosscourt winner that set up his first break with the Russian offering a dismal drop shot to gift it.

It was the prelude to an extraordinary sequence of seven straight games for the Australian, as his game flowered in the sunshine, full of variety, including some artful lobs that had Medvedev for the first time really floundering and looking a mite dispirited.

De Minaur raced into a 3-0 lead in the third set, cheered in the stands by the young lad he said had given him life with his passionate cries during his victory over Jan-Lennard Struff, as the Russian couldn’t break out of his defensive shell.

When Medvedev, having lost 11 of the previous 12 games, finally got back on the board at the start of the fourth, breaking de Minaur, it felt as if he could rally, but de Minaur kept attacking, with one thunderous inside-out forehand earning him the final key break for a 5-3 lead.