Alex De Minaur beat second-seeded Andrey Rublev 7-6 (7-5) 4-6 6-3 in 2 hours and 32 minutes to reach his first semifinal at the ABN AMRO Open in Rotterdam.
De Minaur avenged his recent defeat in the fourth round of the Australian Open last January.
The Australian player has scored his fourth top 10 win of the year.
De Minaur won three consecutive points from 2-4 down to take a 5-4 lead in the tie-break of the first set. The Australian player earned two set points at 6-4 and converted his second chance, as Rublev sent a backhand wide.
Rublev earned his first break in the third game of the second set as De Minaur made a double fault. De Minaur saved two set points at 5-3 to hold serve in a two-deuce ninth game for 4-5. Rublev served out the second set 6-4 on his fourth set point in the 10th game.
De Minaur earned the decisive break in the sixth game and served out the third set 6-3 in the ninth game on his first match point after saving a break point.
“I kept telling myself to be brave and go after it, because ultimately I can’t just run around against Andrey. He has got too much power, and he will just dictate me from one side to the other. So if I want to be effective against Andrey, I have got to try to be aggressive and hit the ball flatter and bigger than I normally do. In bigger moments, I played great, and it got me the win today”, said De Minaur.
This year’s Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner was leading 7-6 (7-4) 1-1 before Milos Raonic retired from the match due to a right hip injury. Sinner has advanced to the semifinal in Rotterdam for the second consecutive year. The Italian player has become the first player born after 2000 to win 200 matches.
Sinner earned the first break in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead. Raonic broke straight back to draw level to 3-3.
Sinner saved two set points on serve at 4-5 15-40 before winning the tie-break of the first set 7-4 with a decisive mini-break on the fifth point.
Sinner will face Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor in a repeat of last year’s semifinal at this tournament. Griekspoor beat Emil Ruusuvuori 7-5 7-6 (7-4).
“He is for sure one of the toughest opponents to play against. This is a very unusual challenge you have on court. He serves incredibly well. I was up a break in the first set and I missed a couple of things. From the past two rounds I was struggling a little bit to find myself on the court. I felt like he was playing than me in the first set. I just tried to stay somehow mentally, but at the end of the day this is not how you want to win this match. He had so many injuries throughout his career and hopefully he will have a speedy recovery”, said Sinner.
