De Minaur On A Roll, Into Shenzhen SFs

Alex de Minaur is on a roll and closing in a spot at the Next Gen ATP Finals in November. The fast-rising 19-year-old moved to within one victory of a place in his third ATP World Tour final on Friday.

The seventh-seeded Australian overcame fourth seed Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina 6-3, 7-6(7) in one hour and 43 minutes at the Shenzhen Open for a place in the semi-finals.

The Australian led 4-0 in the second set, but Dzumhur battled back from 1/5 in the tie-break and held one set point opportunity at 5/6.

“Everything was going according to plan, I was playing great tennis,” De Minaur told ATPWorldTour.com. “Then, I relaxed a bit and my intensity wasn’t as high as before, and he started to play better tennis. I got up 5/1 in the tie-break, almost home and dry, but he is such a good competitor he fought until the end.”

Should World No. 40 De Minaur beat France’s Pierre-Hugues Herbert, a 6-7(6), 7-6(1), 6-4 victor over Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain, he will rise to a new career-high in the ATP Rankings. He began the year at No. 208.

With a 21-17 match record in 2018, De Minaur has reached finals at the Sydney International (l. to Medvedev) and the Citi Open in Washington, D.C. (l. to A. Zverev). He is currently in fourth position in the ATP Race To Milan.

“I feel like I’m really solid out there, making a lot of balls and playing smart tennis,” said De Minaur. “I’m not making any unforced errors and I’m doing what I need to do.”

Doubles Final Set
Top seeds Ben McLachlan and Joe Salisbury will take on fourth seeds Robert Lindstedt and Rajeev Ram in the Shenzhen doubles final. McLachlan and Salisbury defeated third seed Roman Jebavy and Andres Molteni 6-4, 7-6(4) in 87 minutes, while Lindstedt and Ram beat Max Mirnyi and Philipp Oswald 7-6(4), 6-3 in 87 minutes.