Alex de Minaur’s 4.15am sacrifice pays off as Katie Boulter wins San Diego

Alex de Minaur has proven that he’s not just one of the best tennis players on the planet, but he may be one of the best boyfriends as well.

It's been quite a 24 hours for the couple. Photo: Getty Images

Alex de Minaur has proven once again he’s a champion in every sense of the word.

The 25-year-old Aussie claimed his second ATP 500 tournament at the Mexican Open in Acapulco on Sunday (Australian time), going back-to-back to beat the man who then replaced him as world No. 9 in Norway’s Casper Ruud 6-4 6-4.

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But while you’d expect an athlete who claimed the eighth ATP crown of his career to party hard, the Aussie skipped the after-party in Acapulco, revealing he was going to have an early morning to head for the airport.

While the relentless pace of the ATP Tour can be gruelling, it wasn’t for rankings points that de Minaur was rushing out of Mexico, but for love.

“I cannot — I have a 6am flight to Tijuana to go watch Katie play the final so I’m looking forward to that,” de Minaur said after his victory.

As de Minaur was leaving the likes of Stefanos Tsitsipas, Jack Draper and Ruud in his wake, his girlfriend of three years Katie Boulter was playing the tournament of her life.

De Minaur won on Sunday. Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

Boulter won on Monday (Australian time). Photo: Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images/AFP

The 27-year-old Brit took down four seeded players in the San Diego Open in world No. 13 Bella Haddad Maia, then No. 28 Donna Vekic, No. 26 Emma Navarro and No. 34 Marta Kostyuk in the final in a 5-7 6-2 6-2 victory.

Boulter, who was just shy of her career-high of No. 48, starting the tournament at world No. 49, has risen 22 places to a No. 27 after claiming her first WTA 500 tournament and second WTA tournament overall.

Having previously won in Nottingham last June, the San Diego final was a big one for Boulter, and de Minaur made good on his word.

Sharing an Instagram Stories post of him bleary eyed with his team at the airport, he wrote: “6am flight is tough.”

But he perked up as his girlfriend claimed a career-defining victory.

Post-match, Boulter even paid tribute to her boyfriend for his mad dash.

“All of you who have been here today, some of you have flown over here, some of you have driven, some of you have been here the whole time,” Boulter said.

“There’s a lot back home and I want to thank every single one of you.

“I want to say a small special thank you to my boyfriend who finished at midnight last night — and I really want to embarrass him. He got on a 4.15 taxi this morning and a 6 o’clock flight to be here today and I do appreciate it.”

Demon was in Boulter’s player’s box. Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images

Alex de Minaur is a good boyfriend. Photo: Instagram

The pair said they had "a pretty good week". Photo: Instagram

Demon gave a thumbs up with a shy smile on his face.

Later in a video shared by the ATP and WTA, the pair said they’d had “a pretty good week”.

Oh you two!

Fans gave the pair some love for the adorable scene.

A winning couple.
Alex De Minaur and Katie Boulter won titles on the same weekend.
After winning in Acapulco, De Minaur flew down to San Diego to watch Boulter win the biggest title of her career.

They're both on career-high rankings and in the form of their lives. Lovely. pic.twitter.com/rbbnfM34sP

— Biola Solace-Chukwu (@Beeorlicious) March 4, 2024

Katie Boulter and Alex de Minaur both winning 500 events in the same week is some real romcom scriptwriting shit right there

— j🍂 (@jesseisahack) March 4, 2024

Alex de Minaur & Katie Boulter both winning titles this weekend.

They’re really them. 💖 pic.twitter.com/Y6ekSR4jZf

— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) March 4, 2024

Champion in Acapulco on Saturday. Katie Boulter cheerleader on Sunday at the San Diego Open

Alex de Minaur front and center pic.twitter.com/WVCH6V9h8U

— Christopher Clarey 🇺🇸 🇫🇷 🇪🇸 (@christophclarey) March 4, 2024

Tennis worlds new power couple

Katie Boulter 🇬🇧 wins the WTA 500 San Diego title this week supported by her boyfriend Alex De Minaur 🇦🇺 who wins the ATP Acapulco 500 title this week! pic.twitter.com/N9Q7kwgLyb

— Chris Goldsmith (@TheTennisTalker) March 4, 2024

De Minaur and Boulter have been making waves since back in 2021, going public with their relationship in March of that year.

After rain forced a delay in the final, Boulter handed the hard-fought first set to the Ukrainian on her seventh set point after she double faulted.

But having forced her way back from 5-2 down to 5-5 in that set, the momentum was with Boulter and she took that into the second set.

A fine forehand winner down the line put her 3-1 ahead and she broke again to lead 5-2 on the way to forcing a third set.

As Kostyuk tired, Boulter grew in confidence, breaking her opponent twice before firing two emphatic aces in the final game.

Boulter converted seven of her 11 break points and saved seven of the 11 that she faced in the win.

With AFP