‘No one beats me 11 times in a row’: Alex de Minaur’s 49-year act amid career first

Aussie tennis star Alex de Minaur has continued his giant-killing ways in a brilliant comeback to beat a rival he’d never defeated before.

De Minaur is on fire. Photo: AFP

Mexican Open defending champion Alex de Minaur claimed his first career win over Stefanos Tsitsipas on Thursday to reach the semi-finals in Acapulco.

The world No. 9 is in career best touch after finishing runner up in Rotterdam with scalps of world No. 33 Sebastian Korda, No. 13 Grigor Dimitrov and No. 5 Andrey Rublev before he lost to Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner in the final.

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After being blasted out in his first match at the Los Cabos Open, which was won by countryman Jordan Thompson, the third seeded de Minaur has now claimed the scalp of Tsitsipas in a 1-6 6-3 6-3 victory.

The Aussie had come up empty in 10 prior meetings against Tsitsipas, and it looked like more of the same when the Greek raced through the first set 6-1.

But de Minaur rallied to win it in three and book a last-four clash with Britain’s Jack Draper.

“Every time I’ve got to play him I get reminded about my (record in the) matchup,” de Minaur said. “I’m glad I got one on the board.

“I would like to say that no one beats me 11 times in a row, but, hey, Stefanos has had my number for a very long time, so I’m glad I was able to get one back.”

The Demon is on fire. Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

Tsitsipas’ fall continues. Photo by Rodrigo Oropeza / AFP

Tsitsipas, seeded fifth, broke De Minaur three times in rolling through the first set.

The Australian came out on top in an exchange of five service breaks in the second set and saved the only break point he faced in the third.

Speaking after the match, de Minaur said the first set was far from how he hoped to start the match.

“I knew coming in, no matter what happened I was going to leave it all out there whether I played my best tennis, my worst or anything in between,” De Minaur said.

“The first set was probably up there with some of my worst tennis, but I knew the conditions weren’t easy for both of us, so I knew I just had to get my way into the match somehow and then use the adrenaline and competitive spirit that I’m always going to bring.

“I’m extremely happy I managed to turn this one around.”

The result is de Minaur’s sixth win over a top-20 player this year, the most by an Aussie in the opening two months of the year since John Alexander in 1975.

Amazing stuff from the Demon. Photo by Rodrigo Oropeza / AFP

Brit Draper cruised past Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic 6-2 6-2 to reach the semi-finals.

The 22-year-old has dropped just 11 games in three matches on the way to the semi-final — his first semi above the ATP 250 level.

Draper is in brilliant form, having demolished world No. 14 Tommy Paul in the opening match of the tournament 6-0 6-4.

De Minaur isn’t the only player going deep in Acapulco with doubles player John Peers and Finnish partner Harri Heliovaara winning into the semi-finals with a 4-6 7-6 10-5 win over Brit Julian Cash and American Robert Galloway.

They face No. 2 seeds Hugo Nys from Monaco and Pole Jan Zielinski in the semi.