Champ de Minaur into Eastbourne quarters

In last year's final, de Minaur only secured his triumph in a final-set tiebreak but he had fewer problems taming Sonego as he broke the Italian's serve three times en route to his victory in just over an hour and a half.

The Sydneysider, seeded six at Eastbourne, was himself broken just once as he set up a last-eight meeting with either No.2 seed Jannik Sinner or American Tommy Paul.

It was an encouraging display from world No.24 de Minaur, who went to his highest-career ranking of No.15 after winning this event this time last year but has found the going much harder over the past 12 months with setbacks which included a debilitating COVID-19 break.