By Marc McGowan
No one defeats Alex de Minaur 11 times in a row. Or so says the man himself.
Australia’s ascending tennis star finally got the better of Greek nemesis Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Acapulco quarter-finals on Friday (AEDT) after 10 losses across six years of head-to-head misery.
Got him: Alex de Minaur has finally defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas.Credit: AP
Tsitsipas breezed through the opening set in all-too-familiar fashion – after losing serve to start the match – only for de Minaur to dig his heels in and battle back for a significant 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 triumph that continues his rise on the men’s tour.
The world No.9 had not even taken a set off Tsitsipas since Indian Wells almost exactly three years ago.
De Minaur must defend his Acapulco title, which was his first and only at ATP 500 level, to maintain his top-10 ranking. His semi-final opponent is emerging Brit Jack Draper, who dismissed Miomir Kecmanovic 6-2, 6-2.
“Every time I’ve got to play [Tsitsipas], I get reminded about my match-up, so I’m glad I got one on the board,” de Minaur said.
“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.”
De Minaur is putting together a career-best start to the season, including three top-10 scalps at the United Cup to join that elite company for the first time; going within one set of reaching his maiden Australian Open quarter-final; and making the Rotterdam final against Jannik Sinner two weeks ago.
The 25-year-old beat his Melbourne Park conqueror, Andrey Rublev, at Rotterdam for his fourth top-10 victory of the year, but arguably none was more important than this Tsitsipas result.
Sinner, too, has tormented de Minaur, who even told an Italian journalist after his latest loss to him: “I don’t want to answer more questions about Jannik.”
The newly crowned Australian Open champion has won all seven of his meetings with de Minaur, although their Rotterdam showdown was more competitive.
De Minaur looked headed for another tough match against Tsitsipas when the Greek power-hitter needed only seven games to storm to a one-set lead.
The Sydneysider always likes to take the ball early and rush his opponents, but his errors mounted in a sloppy start as he dropped serve three times – winning just one point in the last two of them.
There was a twist at the start of the second set, with de Minaur snatching a 2-0 lead, but he lost serve again and let out a burst of emotion towards his co-coach Matt Reid in the stands.
They traded breaks again in the next two games during a wild stage of the match, but de Minaur worked his way on top with more patience than he showed in the opening set and maintained impressive depth in baseline exchanges.
At the same time, Tsitsipas began to implode. He sent down four double faults in the second set alone among far too many unforced errors, with the number ballooning to 49 by match’s end.
The deciding set produced the best combined tennis between the pair, with de Minaur’s second ace helping him fend off a break point before holding for two-all. The contest swung in de Minaur’s favour in the next game.
Tsitsipas double-faulted a sixth time to slump to 15-30 before consecutive wild backhands cost him the break – and he never had another chance to grab it back.
In fact, Greece’s top-ranked player needed to produce some breathtaking play to stave off three separate break points in the seventh game. He could not escape two games later, with de Minaur running down a drop shot then hitting an overhead winner on his first match point.
The Australian vigorously pumped his fist as he ticked off another milestone.
“I knew coming in that no matter what happened, I was going to leave it all out there – whether I play my best tennis, my worst, or anything in between,” he said.
“The first set was probably up there with some of my worst tennis, but I knew the [windy] conditions weren’t easy for both of us, so I just had to kind of get myself into the match somehow, then use the adrenaline and kind of that competitive spirit that I’m always going to bring.
“I’m extremely happy to manage to turn this one around.”
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