Alex de Minaur has made another striking step towards Wimbledon by becoming the first Australian in 17 years to make the singles final at the esteemed Queen’s Club Championship.
Queen’s Club
Semi-finals
Alex de Minaur (AUS) def Holger Rune (DEN) 6-3, 7-6 (7/2)Carlos Alcaraz (SPA) def Sebastian Korda (USA) 6-3, 6-4
The national men’s number one earned one of the best wins of his career to defeat a rising star of the sport, Holger Rune, 6-3, 7-6 (7/2) with an immaculate semi-final display on Saturday.
Not since de Minaur’s idol Lleyton Hewitt won the last of his four titles in 2006 has an Australian man played in the final of the most prestigious pre-Wimbledon grass-court event.
On Sunday, de Minaur will face another 20-year-old, Carlos Alcaraz, who was a brilliant 6-3, 6-4 winner over Sebastian Korda, as he seeks to extend Australia’s proud record at the 133-year-old Championships with a 27th victory.
If he defeats Alcaraz for the first time, de Minaur will not only stop the Spaniard regaining the world number one ranking from Novak Djokovic but also prevent him being installed as top seed for Wimbledon, which starts a week on Monday.
“I play pretty decent on the grass and I’m having an amazing week, and today I reckon was my best match so far, so happy days. We keep on going; one more to go,” de Minaur told the crowd.
He will do well to play a better match than his one hour 40 minute defeat of Rune on a baking afternoon in London, where the soaring temperatures required two separate second-set stoppages for spectators in the stands to receive medical assistance.
Typical of the gentleman de Minaur is, the 24-year-old took time out in his post-match, on-court speech to inquire after the pair’s well-being.
As to de Minaur’s own form, it was so hot that watching former US Open finalist Greg Rusedski said: “This week he has been as good as I’ve ever seen him play in his career.”
Denmark’s world number six Rune is still finding his way on grass and looked much less comfortable than the Australian.
The 20-year-old Rune delivered an error-ridden first game on serve to immediately let de Minaur cash in, and was effectively playing catch-up in vain for the rest of the match as the Australian, serving with a bit of extra heat and making just one unforced error in the opening set, never got broken.
A second break at the end of the opening set left de Minaur in control, and he created the best chances too in the second stanza when Rune, who was on the backfoot for most of the afternoon, had to save three break points to avoid going 5-3 down.
De Minaur’s own major moment of concern came when he had to rescue two break points of his own at 5-5, but he then dominated the tie-break to set up the chance of earning the biggest triumph of his career on Sunday, topping even his triumph in Acapulco in another ATP 500 tournament in March.
Alcaraz, who lost his opening set at Queen’s earlier in the week, has grown more confident with every match on the grass.
Asked if he could go one better against Alcaraz on grass after the Spaniard had to save two match points on his way to victory on the Barcelona clay last year in their only previous meeting, de Minaur smiled: “Carlos, he’s finding his footing on grass and playing some great tennis. It’s going to be an absolute battle.”
AAP
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