De Minaur is last Aussie standing - again - in Madrid

Alex de Minaur, increasingly familiar with the feeling of being the last Aussie standing in singles competition at big events, is once again the ultimate survivor, this time at the Madrid Open.

De Minaur handled all that former French Open semi-finalist Marco Cecchinato could throw at him on the Italian's favoured clay-court surface on Saturday to record a 6-4 7-6 (7-5) second-round win and book a last-32 spot at the Masters 1000 event.

And after his fellow Sydneysider Chris O'Connell had been defeated in straight sets by American Taylor Fritz, it meant that, with no Australian women in the main draw and four of his male compatriots already having bitten the red dust, de Minaur will be the only one flying the flag in the second week.

His next opponent will be Aslan Karatsev, the Russian who made such a dramatic breakthrough in reaching the semi-finals at the Australian Open two years ago but who's back down to 121 in the world rankings.

Victory over Cecchinato said much about world No.19 de Minaur's improvement on clay courts. 

Three times previously, the Italian had defeated him on the surface, twice at Roland Garros and once in the Italian Open, but this time the Australian 16th seed largely commanded the contest once he broke for a 2-1 lead in the opener.

The national No.1 did come under pressure in the eighth game but rescued all five break points he'd given up and went on to take that set.

He also held firm on a couple more crisis points in the second stanza and eventually sealed a hard-earned victory after an hour and 45 minutes.

Over in the Arantxa Sanchez Stadium, O'Connell had hoped to continue what's become a breakthrough season for him against the ever-improving American Fritz, but his chance went once he had succumbed in a thrilling first-set, 24-point tiebreak, going on to lose 7-6 (13-11) 6-4.

The Sydneysider, fresh from his best-ever ATP tournament in Munich last week when he defeated Alexander Zverev and reached the semi-final, again showed all his resilience as he saved no less than seven set points, while even earning a couple of his own.

But he made a hash of an overhead, crashing it long to gift Fritz an eighth set point and, this time, the American made no mistake, hammering an inside-out forehand to take the stanza after an hour before one break proved enough for him in the second as O'Connell couldn't crack his delivery.

Second seed Daniil Medvedev, a four-time winner on tour this season, knocked out qualifier Andrea Vavassori, Andy Murray's surprise conqueror, 6-4 6-3 in his first match of the week

Dusan Lajovic needed six match points before finally seeing off world No.9 Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-2 3-6 7-6 (7-5), the Serb's third win in a row over top-10 opponents after his triumph in Banja Luka the previous week when he sensationally turned over his buddy Novak Djokovic.