The amazing Brisbane International run of Alex de Minaur came to end on Saturday with a 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 semifinal loss to Ryan Harrison. de Minaur put himself within two points of his first career ATP title match while serving at 5-4 in the second set tiebreaker, but Harrison recovered before prevailing in two hours and 37 minutes.
A de Minaur forehand error at 5-4 followed by a double-fault at 5-5 allowed Harrison to wrap up the middle frame of play on his own serve at 6-5 in the ‘breaker. The 47th-ranked American was off to the races at that point, breaking twice in a row in the third en route to a 5-2 advantage. Harrison hiccuped once while serving for the match, but he eventually closed it out with a clutch hold at 5-4.
Harrison on-court interview:
“I played a great match,” the 18-year-old Australian reflected. “I had my opportunities. (It) was very close. It was a couple points away, but it’s tennis. You have some of your biggest highs, and then you’ve got some matches where you finish and you’re a little bit heartbroken. But this is what I love about this sport–the highs and lows. But this is just going to make me work harder tomorrow; get ready for my next one.
“It’s an incredible high for me this whole week. And I’m just using it as a learning curve to bigger and better things. So I’m really looking forward to what’s to come.”
For Harrison, what’s coming next is a final against another Aussie–a much more established one in Nick Kyrgios. The world No. 21 ousted defending Brisbane champion and reigning Nitto ATP Finals winner Grigor Dimitrov 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 in Saturday’s nightcap. Kyrgios crushed 19 aces compared to just two double-faults while winning 82 percent of his first-serve points.
“I hadn’t beaten him before,” said Kyrgios, who had been 0-2 lifetime against Dimitrov. “Going into today, I knew that I was going to do something a little different. I was going to kind of just not give him too much rhythm. Come in a lot, be super aggressive off my returns. And obviously try and just serve, just serve pretty much anywhere and just play aggressive. He played a pretty solid first set. I played a pretty loose game to get broken. And then, pretty much from then on, I felt pretty in control of the match.”
Kyrgios-Dimitrov highlights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPoThFYcCrk
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good SFs
This is a great chance for Kyrgios to reach at least semis at this AO.
Fedal favourites, then Dimitrov, Kyrgios and Zverev. One of these I believe will win it.
You forget Delpo! How can you leave out Delpo, who reached the SF of USO beating Fed there! AO is a quicker surface than USO, so Delpo will be even harder to beat at the AO.
I personally don’t see Kyrgios or A Zverev winning the AO; their fitness is a question in BO5 matches.
A Zverev especially, he looked half dead after narrowly winning the first set against Fed at the Hopman Cup final; he had a long match vs Kokinnakis the previous night plus playing the mixed doubles, he might be feeling the physical strain thus losing his cool during the final match. I think he’s physically still not very fit to go the distance in BO5.
Kyrgios is erratic so it’s hard to see him winning seven BO5 matches in a row.
I’m a bit disappointed with Cilic and Dimi, both were playing well to win the first set in their respective matches but ended up not able to sustain their level and lost in the end. They’re top ten players, not having any physical or confidence issues, don’t understand why their level could fluctuate so much within a match.
Yeah Zverev form wasn’t very good at Hopman overall. He was solid against Fed at first but after a slight dip in his level, Roger was absolutely flawless in those last two sets. Still can’t believe the level he can come up with at 36 years old. As for Kyrgios, he has the tools and crowd support, which is why I think he has a better shot at a deep run than Zverev. But I can’t see him winning it either.