de Minaur cruises into his first Masters 1000 final
Australia’s Alex de Minaur has overcome Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in convincing fashion to reach his maiden Masters level final.
The final score was 6-1, 6-3. The match was played in windy conditions which made it difficult for the players.
de Minaur raced to a 3-0 lead before the Spaniard held serve for 3-1, but that was the only game he would win in the opening set.
With Davidovich Fokina down a break point at 1-4 in the opening set he hit a forehand well over the baseline to concede the break.
“It was a very tough day. Very tricky conditions out here,” said De Minaur. “Very windy, and not easy to play tennis, so from the first point I just told myself to stay positive. I was going to try and win every point, try to be solid and not expect perfect tennis. I think that made the difference today.”
The second set saw de Minaur hold serve in the second game, what followed was seven straight breaks of serve to end the match. The Spaniard did however have a break point in that second game after a long rally where he eventually hit a winner.
de Minaur will face either Jannik Sinner or Tommy Paul in the final.
With his strong performance in Toronto, de Minaur will rise to at least no. 12 in the Pepperston ATP Rankings next week and edge closer to a top-ten ranking.
“For a couple of years now I’ve been chasing that goal, and probably put a lot of stress on myself to try to achieve that,” said De Minaur. “I’m always going to get the absolute most out of myself. I’m not content where I am, so I’m just going to keep on pushing.”
Davidovich Fokina gave up 38 unforced errors to De Minaur’s nine.