The career-best run of Alex de Minaur at the French Open has ended after the Australian star was beaten by powerful German Alexander Zverev in a quarterfinal that while extremely tight, was ultimately decided in straight sets.

Surging into the last eight in Paris for the first time after a superb run at the clay court grand slam, de Minaur was beaten but far from disgraced when edged by the No.4 seed 6-4 7-6 (5) 6-4 in 2hr 59min on Court Philippe Chatrier.

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Bidding to become the first Australian man since former world No.1 Pat Rafter to make the semi-finals at the French Open, de Minaur played with verve against the former US Open finalist in his first outing on the main stadium court in Paris.

But he ultimately fell marginally short at critical moments against an accomplished rival who has now won 11 matches in succession following his triumph in the Italian Open leading into Roland Garros.

“I left my heart out there. I did everything I could. It just wasn’t good enough,” he said.

“Sometimes on this surface, on days like today, conditions like today, I just struggle a little bit more. I’m still happy with the way I showed up.

“Ultimately I think Zverev loves slow conditions. I think it’s no secret. His best surface is the clay. You put that plus a night match, obviously someone like myself, it’s a little bit harder to penetrate and hurt him out there.”

Through to his fourth consecutive French Open semifinal, Zverev will play Casper Ruud for a place in the final on Friday. The other semifinal will feature reigning Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner and 2023 Wimbledon winner Carlos Alcaraz.

The Australian will return to the top 10 when the rankings are updated on Monday and will potentially sit at a career-high, depending on the result of Friday’s semi-final between Zverev and the Norwegian star Ruud.

A top eight seeding is within reach at Wimbledon, though the Davis Cup star does have 345 ranking points to defend before then after reaching the quarterfinals of s’Hertogenbosch and the decider of Queens last year, where he was beaten by Carlos Alcaraz in the final.

Despite the defeat, his 11th from 40 matches on the ATP Tour this year, the speedy right-hander leaves Paris with a new certainty. He can play and excel on all surfaces.

The evidence does not just stem from his run to the last eight at Roland Garros. He also reached a similar stage in Monte Carlo to start the European clay court swing, where he tested Novak Djokovic, and also made the last 16 in the Italian Open a fortnight ago.

For a player with scratchy clay court credentials leading into the swing, he won 10 of his 15 matches on the surface this year, and it took top-line talents Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Zverev, along with promising Frenchman Arthur Fils, to defeat him.

The confidence gleaned from the swing bodes well for both the coming grass court season and also for when he returns to Europe next year.

“It’s always a great part of the season for me, which I’m always looking forward to,” he said.

“We’ll see how it goes this year, because … I’ve never gone so deep here in French, so hopefully that takes a lot of momentum and confidence on to the grass.”

The combatants strode on to Court Philippe Chatrier at 8.22pm on a clear but chilly evening in Paris and it was obvious that the majority of the crowd were behind de Minaur, which is perhaps not surprising.

While Zverev has a strong record in Paris – his runs at Roland Garros have been ended generally by superb clay court players – he is in the midst of a court case in Germany, where he is appealing a penalty order of more than $700,000 issued against him on a domestic abuse charge.

Having attacked the net with rare verve against Medvedev on Monday, de Minaur signalled his intent early on serve when coming to the net and making a couple of superb backhand volleys.

Matt Reid, a former Australian doubles star now working as a coach, kept encouraging de Minaur to dictate the points to the reigning Olympic gold medallist.

The instruction was easier said than done, for the weight of the German’s groundstrokes made it harder for de Minaur to camp on the baseline and press forward than the threat posed in the fourth round match by Medvedev. But the breeze was a factor also.

It is no coincidence the Australian struggled when serving was the President’s Box end as he pushed into a stiff breeze.

It is indisputable his serve is stronger and that he has added strength to his game, but there was a once-familiar pattern at play when Zverev had the wind behind him, with the German able to bully him from the baseline and stretch the No. 11 seed more often.

de Minaur dropped at 1-all and 3-all in the opening set, the latter when double faulting, while managing to win only one point in each of the service games. And while the eight time ATP Tour titleist also pressed his rival with the breeze behind him, he only secured one service break.

The pattern continued in the second as the pair exchanged service breaks midway through, with first the No. 4 edging ahead, only for the Aussie to reel him in. The quality of the tennis as the set progressed was outstanding, so too the defensive court coverage of both men.

As an illustration, the Sydneysider received a standing ovation when serving at 5-all when, after desperately lunging in a futile bid to reach a lob, he was still able to recover to reach the ball and play a backhand before eventually winning the point.

An opportunity to level the match presented with Zverev serving at 5-6 after de Minaur whipped a backhand topspin lob over his rival that brought the crowd to its feet. It was a critical juncture, for the Australian is yet to win a match from a two set deficit.

But Zverev survived the scare after an aggressive forehand from the Australian clipped the net cord, which enabled the three-time Roland Garros semi-finalist to settle and wrest the upper-hand in the point.

Zverev has a staggering tiebreak strike rate at Roland Garros, having won 22 of 24 leading into the quarterfinal dating back to his first appearance in 2016.

De Minaur won the opening four points of the tiebreaker, only to be delayed as he was about to serve by a fan barracking for Zverev. The pause sapped his momentum, with the German won the next three points to surge back into the contention.

An epic rally at 5-all that lasted 39 shots fell Zverev’s way after he picked the passing shot to give him a point for a two set lead and when de Minaur overhit a forehand, he faced a massive task.

“The thing I would do differently is win the second set. I think it changes the whole match, but didn’t happen. It slipped away,” he said.

“And of course a player like him up two sets to love, it’s a pretty big mountain to climb back up. I couldn’t care less about his

tiebreak record. Again, I don’t really look at statistics. No point bothering in that. But you can tell, I mean, he’s got a great serve and, you know, he can go into lockdown mode in those moments.”

The early stages of the third set were even as the intensity dipped following the high-octane finish to the second set.

But while the German star was able to raise his level again midway through the set, de Minaur played a flat game on serve for the first time in more than 90 minutes when conceding a break to trail 2-4 with a double-fault.

The setback did not diminish his spirit, with the Alicante-based all-court player pressing Zverev in the following service game, but again the German picked the right way to cover a passing shot from the Australian when he was holding a break back point.

It proved a different case two games later as the angular German was trying to serve out the match, with de Minaur coming up with a brilliant drop volley to retrieve the break and keep his hopes alive.

As de Minaur waited to serve to level the third set at 5-games apiece, the crowd produced a rousing “Mexican wave” which zoomed around the stadium court three times before play resumed. The reprieve was brief, with Zverev responding immediately to break again.

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