Alex de Minaur rebounded from a set right down to beat proficient Czech Jakub Mensik, organising a Vienna semifinal towards in-form Karen Khachanov.
Vienna, Austria, 26 October 2024 | Matt Trollope
Alex de Minaur’s return to type continues, with the Australian No.1 profitable via to the ATP 500 semifinals in Vienna.
De Minaur battled for greater than two-and-a-half hours to subdue proficient Czech teen Jakub Mensik, profitable 6-7(2) 6-3 6-4.
Mensik, 19, was a qualifier on the indoor hard-court event, and by profitable the opener prolonged his streak to 9 consecutive units gained.
He additionally held two break factors within the first recreation of the second set, earlier than De Minaur steadied the ship on Friday night within the Austrian capital.
Withstanding 47 winners from his opponent, together with 15 aces, De Minaur rallied to win his forty fourth match of 2024, advancing to his fourth semifinal of the season – but first since ‘s-Hertogenbosch in June.
Bought there in the long run 👊
2nd seed @alexdeminaur retains moving into Vienna, outlasting Mensik 6-7 6-3 6-4 to achieve the semifinals!#ErsteBankOpen pic.twitter.com/MNiUptfw6t
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 25, 2024
De Minaur served out the match within the closing recreation with out dropping some extent to set a conflict with Karen Khachanov, final week’s ATP Almaty champion who’s unbeaten in his previous seven matches.
The pair haven’t met in additional than two years, with the head-to-head locked at 1-1.
De Minaur is an ideal 3-0 in ATP semifinals this yr.
This week in Vienna represents encouraging progress for the 25-year-old Aussie, whose season has been blighted by damage since he sustained a hip cartilage tear throughout his fourth-round win at Wimbledon.
That is simply his third event since then; impressively, he has reached at the very least the quarterfinal stage in any respect of them.
De Minaur closes to inside 165 factors of eighth-placed Andrey Rublev within the race to the ATP Finals. Rublev misplaced his quarterfinal match on the concurrent event in Basel, Switzerland, to Ben Shelton.
De Minaur has by no means earlier than certified on the prestigious season-ending eight-player occasion, nevertheless it stays a risk in what has been a career-best yr.
At present ranked ninth, De Minaur peaked at world No.6 in July after reaching the final eight at Wimbledon. He reached the second week in any respect 4 majors in 2024, together with consecutive quarterfinals at Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open.
He now stands simply two wins away from his third title of the season, after triumphs in Acapulco and ‘s-Hertogenbosch.
