Cruz Hewitt Shocks Top Seed de Minaur at Washington

No Script, No Precedent

Two days ago, Cruz Hewitt walked onto a main-draw court for the first time in his ATP career. By Thursday evening in Washington, he had beaten the world's number one. The 17-year-old Australian qualifier dismantled top seed Alex de Minaur 6-3, 6-4 in the second round of the Citi Open, producing one of the biggest upsets of the 2026 season and cementing what has become a genuinely extraordinary debut week.

Hewitt entered the tournament ranked 612th in the world. He had claimed his first career ATP main-draw win on Tuesday by defeating Marcos Giron, a result that drew warm attention given his surname. Now he has beaten the man who entered Washington as the heavy favourite to win the title outright.

De Minaur Had No Answers

De Minaur had received a first-round bye as top seed and was stepping onto the court for the first time this week. Hewitt showed no signs of nerves in either set. His flat, penetrating groundstrokes denied de Minaur the pace he thrives on as a counter-puncher, and his first serve held up consistently under pressure throughout the match.

Hewitt broke in the seventh game of the first set and never relinquished control. In the second set, de Minaur fought harder – he saved two match points before finally capitulating – but could not fashion a break of his own. Hewitt closed at 5-4 and walked off court having allowed his opponent just seven games across the entire match.

The statistics underlined the dominance: Hewitt did not face a single break point in the first set, and his winner-to-unforced-error ratio stayed consistently positive throughout. De Minaur, normally one of the most relentless returners on tour, managed only a handful of clean winners.

A Dynasty Doubles Down

Lleyton Hewitt won the Washington title in 2004, twenty-two years before his son set foot in the main draw. Cruz cannot surpass that record in a single week, but he has already done something his father never managed: eliminate the world number one before the quarterfinals.

The family parallel adds colour to a story that stands entirely on its own merit. A player ranked outside the top 600, through the qualifying draw and into his second career ATP match, beating the best player in the field in straight sets is simply a remarkable sporting fact.

ATPWorld No. 277 Zhou stuns Musetti as Cobolli and Berrettini also fall

The Quarter-Final Picture

Hewitt next faces Ugo Humbert, who earlier on Thursday beat second seed Ben Shelton 6-2, 7-5 in an all-lefty clash to book his own quarterfinal place. Hewitt's will be his third career ATP main-draw match.

In the opposite half of the draw, Taylor Fritz defeated Kamil Majchrzak to advance, while Alex Michelsen eliminated Adrian Mannarino 6-4, 7-6. On the other side, Lorenzo Musetti — returning from a 76-day injury absence — ground out a 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 win over Aleksandar Vukic to set up a quarterfinal with Rafael Jódar, who dismissed Kei Nishikori 6-3, 6-2.

The Citi Open quarterfinals are scheduled for Friday, July 31.