By Ian Chadband
Alex de Minaur is a win away from putting himself in position to earn a coveted place in the ATP Finals for the first time – and he’s got there with a little help from a familiar little Parisian friend.
On a day when his Sydney pal Alexei Popyrin celebrated another huge win over Daniil Medvedev, de Minaur also powered into the third round of the Paris Masters with a 6-4 7-6 (7-5) victory over Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic.
Alex de Minaur takes on Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic on day three of the Paris Masters. Credit: Getty Images
The Australian No.1 was cheered on at courtside in Bercy by the young “superfan” Paul, who de Minaur took under his wing for supporting him come rain or shine during his breakthrough run to the quarter-finals of the French Open at Roland Garros in June.
And the pair had much to cheer during their reunion as “Demon” moved to the verge of being one of the leading eight players in line to play in the end-of-season men’s showpiece Finals in Turin.
In the live rankings, the 25-year-old is now just 75 points behind eighth-placed Andrey Rublev, who’s already out of the tournament, and he’ll go past the Russian if he wins his last-16 match.
It is a big if, though, as de Minaur will have to beat Jack Draper, his conqueror at the US Open, after the in-form Briton beat the already-qualified world No.6 Taylor Fritz, 7-6 (8-6) 4-6 6-4.
Alexei Popyrin celebrates his upset win over Daniil Medvedev.Credit: Getty Images
De Minaur had to scramble to rescue two set points in the second stanza against world No.55 Kecmanovic, before edging a tight tiebreak which was effectively settled by one stray forehand from the Serb when serving at 5-4 down.
Earlier on Wednesday, Popyrin, who in August became the first Aussie to win a Masters 1000 in more than two decades when he beat Rublev at the Canadian Open, was carried on a wave of indignation as he knocked out another Russian, world No.5 Medvedev 6-4 2-6 7-6 (7-4).
The world No.24 Popyrin went ballistic after a woeful call from a line judge went against him at a crucial juncture in the ninth game of a nervy, error-ridden deciding set, prompting the point to have to be replayed as Popyrin faced a critical break point.
“I don’t want to play,” complained Popyrin, but he recovered his composure, held his serve and then proved stronger in the tiebreak to take his third career win over a top-five ranked opponent.
“The animation from me came out after that call,” said Popyrin.
“That was tough call to take, but stuff like that, I try and let it fire me, rather than put me down and demotivate me. It definitely fired me up, probably woke me up a little bit, and made me play a little bit more free.”
He’d lost his three previous matches against the former US Open champ but, aided by out-of-sorts Medvedev’s serving woes in delivering 14 double faults, he prevailed after almost two-and-a-half hours.
In a tight final breaker, the key moment came when Medvedev double-faulted one last time to give Popyrin a match point, which the Aussie then converted with a fine volley at the net, his 31st winner of the match.
“To get the job done here, at the last Masters of the year where I really wanted to go deep, this is a great step,” said Popyrin.
He’ll next face one of the tour’s most in-form players, Karen Khachanov, who survived a blitz of 20 aces from monster-serving home favourite Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, to prevail 6-7 (12-14) 6-1 6-4.
Going into the match, Popyrin had lost his three previous matches against Medvedev, who has now lost in the opening round at this tournament for three years straight and has not won a title this year.
Together, the pair combined for 86 unforced errors under the roof of the Palais Omnisports.
Medvedev trailed 4-1 in the deciding set but broke back to force a tiebreaker in which Popyrin played more aggressively. Medvedev double-faulted to give Popyrin a match point and the Australian converted it at the net.
A contentious call from a line umpire which forced a point to be replayed in the eighth game of the deciding set infuriated Popyrin, but he recovered to win the replay with a superb forehand volley.
“Stuff like that, I’m trying to let it fire me up rather than put me down,” Popyrin said. “It was tough to take, but it definitely fired me up ... maybe I played a bit more free (afterwards).”
In other results, eighth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov stayed in the race for the ATP Finals by beating Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-7 (9), 6-3, 7-5, Holger Rune Alexander Bublik 6-4, 6-2, while big-serving Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard lost to Karen Khachanov 6-7 (12), 6-1, 6-4, in what was, Ugo Humbert, Arthur Fils and Adrian Mannarino.
AAP and AP
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