Australia’s Alex de Minaur has won the Zhuhai ATP 250 final to claim his third title of 2019 and of his career.

Sydney, Australia – 9 January 2018: Alex de Minaur in his second round match at the Sydney International tennis. (Photo by Rob Keating/robiciatennis.com)

The Australian is now three from three when reaching finals in 2019 having won the Sydney International and the Atlanta titles.

de Minaur defeated France’s Adrian Mannarino 7-6(4) 6-4.

“It was a really tough match. I had a lot of chances and I felt like Adrian just played better than I did in those moments. I just told myself I had to try and take control of the point and just try to dictate as much as I could and I hit a great ball and I’m happy it ended there,” de Minaur said.

With the title, de Minaur will again become the top-ranked Australian men’s singles player with a projected ranking of no. 25 just one off his career-high ranking.

“He played great. I don’t think that my level dropped during the match, I think that he just kept pushing all the time, being really offensive and, if you just lose your concentration for, I don’t know, 30 seconds, one minute, then you lose a crucial game and then it goes quick,” Mannarino said. “He played better than me, that’s the only thing I can remember about this match.”

de Minaur did not face a break point throughout the final, Mannarino was broken in the last game but had saved 12 break points before that crucial moment.

Nick Kyrgios has defeated Daniil Medvedev 7-6(6), 7-6(4) to cap off one of the best weeks of his life to walk away with the sixth title of his career and the second ATP 500 title in 2019.

Kyrgios will now rise to no. 27 in the rankings and retake the top spot in Aussie tennis.

In the first set he was suffering from back spasms, but despite that, he did not have a single break point against him. Medvedev also did not face a break point.

The match came down to a few key points in the tie breakers with Medvedev making a few unforced errors at key moments.

The Russian looked to be on his way to taking the first set when ahead 5-2 but Kyrgios held his nerve and slowly fought his way back, firstly with help from Medvedev when he sent a backhand well over the baseline at 2-5 with Kyrgios having served.

Kyrgios showed good patience on the next point before Medvedev finally lost his as he went for a down the line winner that he hit wide.

A big backhand from Kyrgios that took Medvedev wide and deep was followed by a dropshot winner for Kyrgios to level the scores at 5-5.

A first serve that Kyrgios barely hit gave Medvedev a set point but that was saved by an Ace from the Australian. A down the line winner from Kyrgios gave him a set point on Medvedev’s serve.

A forehand hit wide by the Russian handed the set to Kyrgios. He then received treatment from the trainer.

As in the first set, the second came down to a breaker.

A backhand sent wide and long off the Medvedev racquet gave Kyrgios a mini-break on the first point. The Russian immediately hit back when hit a well angled backhand to force an error.

A big serve and a big forehand was too much to handle for Medvedev on the next point. A good volley from the Russian got the score level at 2-2.

The Russian attacked the net and forced another error from the Australian as he pushed a rushed passing shot wide for 3-2. Ace no. 16 took Kyrgios to 3-3.

A 225 km rocket serve could not be handled by Medvedev and his return sailed long for his to serve next at 3-4. Another Medvedev unforced error when he hit long had Kyrgios two points from the title.

Medvedev won the next point before Krygios was presented with two serves to claim the title. Championship point was earned with an Ace.

The title was his after an angled Ace to the forehand corner. The Australian fell to the court in celebration. He then thanked a lady in the crowd for her advice on match point.

“This has honestly been one of my favourite weeks of my life. I’ve made massive strides,” Kyrgios said. “I started becoming friends with the smoothie guy, he knew what smoothie I wanted. I was playing ping pong with some kids before I’m playing. You guys were amazing. It was honestly a week to remember.”

There were 32 winners from Kyrgios and 29 for Medvedev and Medvedev had just 14 unforced errors to 19 from Nick, but it was when the errors came that was the difference.

He improved to 5-1 against Top 10 players in 2019, a winning percentage of 83, best on the ATP Tour this year. World No. 1 Novak Djokovic has won seven of his nine matches against Top 10 players this season (7/9, 78%).

Australia’s Nick Kyrgios is into his second ATP 500 final of the year after defeating Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(7).

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Kyrgios had early breaks in the first two sets, but in the second he let Tsitsipas back into the match as he went from 2-0 up to trial 5-2 before finally winning serve to see Tsitsipas serving for the second set.

Kyrgios seemed to be agitated due to someone in the stands.

With the match at a set apiece, there was a lighthearted moment when at 2-1 in favour of Kyrgios, Tsitsipas had a lace break on his shoes. Some shoes were delivered to his father and Kyrgios waited for them to be re-laced.

Kyrgios then took the bag containing the shoes and delivered them to his opponent with a bow as if Tsitsipas was the king.

Games went with serve in the deciding set although Tsitsipas had a look at two break points against the booming Kyrgios serve.

In the tie-breaker it was the Australian that jumped out to a 5-1 lead only to see Tsitsipas win the next six points to hold a match point at 5-6. A big first serve that Tsitsipas hit just long saved the match point for the Australian.

A booming Ace down the T gave Kyrgios his first match point with Tsitsipas to serve. The first serve was a fault, then the second serve looked long but Kyrgios did not challenge the serve.

After a backhand passing shot from Kyrgios could not be handled by his opponent Kyrgios held a match point. A big serve and an easy putaway sealed the win.

Kyrgios hit 43 winners to 39 from Tsitsipas and he had 25 unforced errors to 11. The Australian had 19 Aces.

Kyrgios will face Russia’s Daniil Medvedev. The Australian leads the head-to-head 1-0 after winning at the ATP Masters 1000 Rome claycourt event earlier this year.

After reaching the final Kyrgios will become the top-ranked Australian men’s player.

In an all-Australian quarterfinal in Atlanta Alex de Minaur has advanced after defeating Bernard Tomic 6-2, 3-0 as Tomic retired with a back injury.

“It’s not ideal obviously for him, but I’ll take this any day of the week. I got here to come, play some good tennis, and ended up with the win,” de Minaur said. “I hope Bernard gets better and recovers, and hopefully he’s all good for the next tournament.”

Alexei Popyrin lost to Great Britain’s Cam Norrie 7-5, 6-4.

Popyrin started well but seemed to be struggling in the heat and humidity in Atlanta with the temperature around 31C.

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Both players held serve until at 5-5 Norrie gained a break point after a double-fault from Popyrin. A good body serve saved that point.

Popyrin then had game points but was not able to close it out. Eventually, Popyrin would hit long to see Norrie serving for the set at 6-5. The Brit had set point at 40-30 and converted as Popyrin sent a shot over the baseline.

The trainer then came to talk to the Australian as he was feeling the heat.

Popyrin was quickly down 0-1 and looked to be falling behind 0-2 before fighting back from 40-15 to break back.

Games were held until Popyrin was serving at 4-4. He again was broken and allowed Norrie to serve for the match at 5-4. The Brit won the game to advance to the semifinals in Atlanta for the second time in a row.

de Minaur will face giant American Riley Opelka in a re-match of their round two match at Sydney back in January. On that occasion de Minaur defeated Opelka 6-4, 7-6(5) but the American let a good lead slip in the tie-breaker.

Australia’s Jordan Thompson has lost his first final at the ATP level going down to France’s Adrian Mannarino 7-6(7), 6-2.

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The pair had met on three occasions with Mannarino winning twice on grass and Thompson had won earlier in the year on Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney, a hardcourt.

The French world no. 44 was 0-6 in ATP level finals going into the s-Hertogenbosch final against Thompson the world no. 62.

Mannarino got off to the best start possible when he broke to love. He would however surrender his advantage in the sixth game.

The first set would be decided in a tie-breaker however Thompson had set points that he failed to convert.

After failing to take his chances in the first set Thompson faded in the second set and it was Mannarino that charged to his first title from seven attempts. The title takes the Frenchman to no. 34 in the rankings.

“People are going to stop talking [about my finals record],” said Mannarino. “In France, we have another player, Julien Benneteau, who lost 10 finals and never won a title. Every time I was losing a [final] I was on my way to Benneteau… This is a big achievement for me. I am not pretending to be Top 10 or anything. Winning a title on the ATP Tour level is already something amazing for me and I cannot be more thankful to all the people who helped me get to this title.”

Thompson who now enters the top 50 with the no. 46 ranking said “[I am] feeling disappointed to lose in that final, but I am very happy to make my first final. It was a great week for me… I really took advantage of playing well on the grass. It is disappointing to lose in the final, but a great week nonetheless.”

Australia’s Alexei Popyrin has let a 4-1 first set lead slip away as he lost to Portugal’s world no. 51 Joao Sousa 6-4, 2-6, 6-2. Sousa is the defending champion.

Popyrin was in complete control early in the match but then let his opponent back into the match with the score going to 4-4.

The 19-year-old Australian then had six break point opportunities in the ninth game, but failed to convert.

He was made to pay dearly as he was then broken again to see the set slip away 6-4.

Popyrin, did not let the disappointment of losing the first set get to him. He came back strong in the second set to level the match at a set a piece but he could not maintain momentum in the third set.

The Australian, currently ranked at no. 113 misses an opportunity to close in on an all-important top-100 ranking. He sits at no. 110 on the live rankings after earning points from qualifying.

In an earlier all-Australian match, John Millman defeated Bernard Tomic 6-3, 6-0.

A big prize was at stake for the winner of the match between Australia’s world no. 67 Jordan Thompson and world no. 241 Daniel Elahi Galan from Colombia.

Whoever won will play their first ATP tour level semifinal against world no. 95 Casper Ruud.

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Photo: Colombia’s Daniel Elahi Galan. (Photo by George Walker/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

On the clay courts in Houston, Thompson opened the serving and held serve. His Colombian opponent also held before getting what would be the first of three breaks of serve in the opening set.

Galan raced to 6-1 to close out the first set in 34 minutes. Thompson served at 65% but won just 40% of first serve points, while Galan had a lower first serve percentage at 52, but he won 75% of the first serve points.

Thompson needed to make a stand early in the first set or the match would be over.

The Australian did just that and was able to break Galan in the third game after jumping out to 0-40 with a nice down the line winner. A shot over the baseline from the Colombian conceded the break. Thompson would go on to win the set and take the match to a deciding set.

With the score at 3-3, 15-15 in the third set the rain came and sent the players to the changeroom. The match was resumed the next day.

Galan quickly closed out the service game with an Ace for 4-3.  Thompson held to love to level the score at 4-4.

It was again a windy day and the players struggled to find timing on their shots. Galan was attacking at the net in his next service game and twice volleyed for a winner.  Back-to-back errors from the Colombian saw the score at deuce.

In the longest rally of the game, it was Thompson that cracked first, hitting long to see Galan at Ad. A big forehand winner saw him close out the game and go to the change of ends at 5-4.

Thompson opened the 10th game by winning the first point after Galan hit long. An Ace followed for 30-0. Galan stepped it on with some big forehands and saw Thompson hit a shot into the net.

The Australian got the first serve in that Galan shanked and he was at 40-15.  Galan was hitting forehands from inside the baseline and forced an error from Thompson who hit long. Another good deep forehand and another forced error and it was deuce. A missed shot into the net from Galan saw Thompson at Ad.

Thompson dropped a shot short and Galan stepped in and hit a forehand winner to be two points from a semifinal spot. He moved to Ad after Thompson hit a shot just over the baseline which was confirmed by the umpire.

With the match on the line, it was Galan that went on the attack and forced Thompson wide and deep. As Thompson raced to retrieve the ball he was only able to slap at the ball and sent it long to hand victory to the Colombian.

Galan advances to his first ATP tour semifinal.