Melbourne, Jan 8 (Reporter) Alex de Minaur has made a statement leading into the Australian Open, downing four-time grand slam champion Carlos Alcaraz in a gripping charity match. Australia’s world No.8 outlasted his Spanish opponent 7-5, 4-6 (10-5) in a Rod Laver Arena showdown that lasted two hours and four minutes, according to a News.com.au report on Wednesday. While the match was an unofficial encounter played four days before the main event kicks off, both players brought their A-game in a see-sawing contest in which de Minaur continued his recent stellar run. “It’s exciting to be back here on Rod Laver Arena, in front of you guys, so I tried to do my best,” the 25-year-old said post-match. “I’m very excited for what’s coming in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully we both can play some great tennis.” Minaur came into the match having leapfrogged Andrey Rublev in the world rankings thanks to a red-hot run at the United Cup in Sydney. He lost just eight games for the entire tournament – the fewest of any male. At the Australian Open, he’ll be aiming to become the first Aussie since Lleyton Hewitt in 2005 to make the men’s final, while world no.3 Alcaraz will be looking to add an Australian Open to his set of grand slams, which includes two Wimbledon titles plus French and US Open wins. The second set remained on serve until Alcaraz broke in the final game to win it 6-4. The break came after de Minaur gave up seven break points in his final two service games. He saved five of them - two with his fastest serves of the match, both clocking 211km/h – but eventually surrendered, sending the game to a 10-point tie-break in place of a third set. The Spaniard said post-match: “I love playing these kinds of matches against these kinds of players. It was a great warm up...////...