Australia’s Alex de Minaur loses World Tennis Tournament quarter-final in Rotterdam to Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas

Australian Alex de Minaur’s quarter-final run in Rotterdam is over after going down again to Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas

Australia’s Alex de Minaur bowed out in the Rotterdam quarter-finals to Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas. Picture: AFP

Alex de Minaur still can’t solve his Stefanos Tsitsipas riddle despite another trademark gritty effort.

Tsitsipas eased past the Australian 6-4 6-4 in their World Tennis Tournament quarter-final in Rotterdam and has now won all seven of their meetings at ATP Tour level.

The Greek world No.4’s firepower again proved too much for de Minaur, with him blasting 19 winners and winning 27 of 33 points on his first serve.

It’s still been a good start to the year for de Minaur, who also made the fourth round at the Australian Open for the first time.

Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas celebrates his victory over Alex de Minaur in the Rotterdam quarter-finals. Picture: AFP

It was the 22-year-old’s first ATP quarter-final since winning the Eastbourne title on grass in June last year.

The match turned in Tsitsipas’ favour when he finally broke de Minaur on his sixth opportunity – on a double fault – in the fifth game of the opening set.

That was enough for Tsitsipas to go a set up, then he broke his 34th-ranked opponent twice more in the first three games of the second set and hung on despite giving one of them back.

“I took my time, I tried to understand what works for me and what doesn’t, and with the right momentum, with the right intention, things kind of paid off,” Tsitsipas said.

Alex de Minaur has now lost all seven of his clashes with Stefanos Tsitsipas at ATP Tour level. Picture: AFP

“I was able to get ahead in the score, which gave me a lot of confidence, and I think my serve was very good today – it gave me a lot of points and applied a lot of pressure to him.”

Tsitsipas’ semi-final opponent is Czech qualifier Jiri Lehecka, who upset Lorenzo Musetti in three sets to book his berth, as he seeks his first ATP 500 title at the indoor event.

In the Dallas Open, Australia’s Jordan Thompson lost his quarter-final 6-3 6-0 to American fourth seed Jenson Brooksby in barely an hour.