De Minaur comes back in Vienna and strengthens his candidacy towards Turin | ATP Tour

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De Minaur comes back in Vienna and strengthens his candidacy towards Turin

The Australian will face Karen Khachanov on Saturday

October 25, 2024

Álex de Minaur remains hopeful of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time, and the positive results are accompanying him. This Friday he got one more by beating the Czech Jakub Mensik, of the #NextGenATP, 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-4, to reach the semifinals of the Erste Bank Open.

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

“I’m going to do the best I can. I haven’t played enough tennis this year, I’ve been out of the game for a while. So I have a lot of energy and a lot of fight. So I will make sure I give it my all every time I go out on the court.”

The Australian, who now leads his Lexus ATP HeadToHead 1-0 with Mensik, will play his 25th semi-final at tour level on Saturday, while Mensik says goodbye to a positive week that allows him to remain on track to qualify for the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF in December. The 19-year-old is third in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah.

De Minaur will now play against Karen Khachanov, who has just beaten Italian Matteo Berrettini 6-1, 6-4 to extend his winning streak to seven matches.

The 28-year-old, who won the Almaty Open last week, dispatched the Italian in one hour and 18 minutes to reach his first semi-final at the ATP 500 tournament in Vienna. Also to leave his Lexus ATP HeadToHead with Berrettini at 1-4.

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