By Richard Pagliaro | Saturday, August 12, 2023
Alex de Minaur bolted by Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-1, 6-3 to roll into his first ATP Masters 1000 final in Toronto.
Photo credit: National Bank Open Facebook
Squealing sneakers screaming across the hard court sounded the depths of Alex de Minaur's desire.
Though de Minaur barely spoke a word during today's Toronto semifinal, his feet wouldn't shut up.
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Exploding off the mark, de Minaur bolted by Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-1, 6-3 to roll into his first ATP Masters 1000 final at the National Bank Open.
The victory vaults de Minaur to a new career-high ranking of No. 12 in the ATP Live Rankings.
"It feels great. It feels like, you know, all the hard work, all the hours on the court, off the court, they're paying off," de Minaur said. "It's good to see those results. Because a lot of times you put in all this effort and hard work and the results just don't come; right? So it's always a huge boost of confidence when you're able to go on these deep runs.
"But, you know, I get to play a final tomorrow. And, you know, the job is not done. Keep on going."
In a semifinal of two of tennis' speediest players, de Minaur frequently beat a flat Davidovich Fokina to the ball and beat him down in baseline rallies winning nine of the first 10 games.
Playing precise combinations, de Minaur shredded the Spaniard's serve converting seven of nine break points and winning 14 of 19 points played on the Davidovich Fokina second serve.
"So windy," de Minaur wrote on the camera lens court-side.
Afterward, de Minaur said blustery conditions created unruly bounces and forced him to focus on the basics and grind through the chaos.
"I think a match like today, you can't really take too much out of it because of the conditions," de Minaur said. "The conditions were very, very tough for both of us, so it didn't allow for ideal tennis, perfect tennis. And I knew that from the first moment I stepped out on court that it wasn't going to be pretty.
"So I just kind of just told myself that no matter what, I was going to compete every point, stay positive, and not get frustrated by how the match may go, and I'm just going to give myself the best chance of staying tough mentally.
"And I think that's probably what got me the win today. It wasn't about how I played tactically or, you know, what I was able to do on the court. I think it was just mentally was the most important thing."
De Minaur stole the opening set from Taylor Fritz in his 7-6(7), 4-6, 6-1 round of 16 victory then saved set points in the first set stunning second-seeded Daniil Medvedev 7-6(7), 7-5 in the quarterfinals.
Showing no trace of nerves in his maiden Masters 1000 semifinal, de Minaur led wire-to-wire today. His only real stumble came when he failed to serve out the match at 5-2.
Shaking it off, de Minaur broke to end a 77-minute triumph.
De Minaur advanced to his fourth final of the season.
The man who has posted a 16-5 record over his last six tournaments will play either No. 7-seeded Jannik Sinner or 15th-seeded Tommy Paul, who upset world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz on Friday night, in tomorrow's final.