De Minaur returns to Vienna and strengthens his candidacy in Turin | ATP Tour

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De Minaur returns to Vienna and strengthens his candidacy for Turin

The Australian will face Karen Khachanov on Saturday.

October 25, 2024

Alex de Minaur remains hopeful of reaching the Nitto ATP final for the first time and positive results are following his lead. This Friday he got another one, defeating Czech Jakub Mensik of #NextGenATP 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-4 to reach the semi-finals of the Erste Bank Open.

The 25-year-old is currently ranked ninth in the PIF ATP Live Race in Turin, but a title at the weekend would take him up to seventh. “Now is the decisive moment. Every match matters. Every point counts,” de Minaur said after his victory in two hours and 34 minutes.

“I’ll do everything I can. I haven’t played much tennis this year and have been out of the game for a while. So I have a lot of energy and a lot of fight. So I will try my best every time I step on the court.”

The Australian, who currently leads his Lexus ATP HeadToHead 1-0 with Mensik, will play his 25th tour-level semi-final on Saturday, with Mensik saying goodbye to a positive week that has kept him on track to qualify for Next Gen. ATP Finals presented by PIF in December. The 19-year-old athlete takes third place in the PIF ATP Live Race in Jeddah.

De Minaur will now face Karen Khachanov, who just beat Italy’s Matteo Berrettini 6-1, 6-4 to extend his winning streak to seven matches.

The 28-year-old, who won the Almaty tournament last week, beat the Italian in one hour and 18 minutes to reach his first semi-final at the ATP 500 tournament in Vienna. And also leave your Lexus ATP facing Berrettini with a score of 1-4.

Khachanov is now one more win away from his 10th ATP Tour final. His Lexus ATP HeadToHead race against the Australian is tied 1-1 and will be extended for the first time since Dubai 2022, when he won in three sets.