The real Demon has been hiding in recent months, but he is back and better than ever for the start of the summer hard-court swing.
Alex de Minaur, who captured his first career ATP title in January at the Sydney International before being slowed on clay and grass by a groin issue, triumphed at the BB&T Atlanta Open with a 6-3, 7-6(2) victory over Taylor Fritz in Sunday’s final.
“This one’s really special for me,” the 20-year-old Australian assured. “I felt like I really needed this. To be slowed down by injuries, you slowly have to grind your way back to that same level. It means the world to me. This week has really helped me out.”
De Minaur did not help out Fritz–or any other opponent–this week at all. He reduced unforced errors to a bare minimum and was utterly flawless on serve. The world No. 34 lost a mere seven first-serve points in the entire tournament; just two in a three-set semifinal against Reilly Opelka and again only two against Fritz.
“Taylor is a really is a really dangerous ball-striker, de Minaur commented. “I felt like I had to change paces a little bit, try to get to net a fair bit, (and) take the rhythm out of the match.”
He was in an unprecedented rhythm on serve the whole week. The fourth seed became the first player since five-time Atlanta champion John Isner almost exactly two years ago in Newport to win a title without facing a single break point. He is just the third player since 1991 to accomplish that feat.
“It doesn’t really sound like me,” de Minaur joked. “I honestly don’t know what happened.”
“Maybe it’s because I got here last Wednesday. I feel like I’m almost a local here. I’ve spent that much time here. I’ve just been comfortable…. I’ll definitely be back next year. I really enjoy it here. A lot of us Aussies really enjoy the hot, humid conditions. It’s a great way to start your American hard-court season.”
great week, Demon (other than the mustache)
Mustache is horrible. But if I’m De Minaur I’m keeping it to be honest.
No write up from Ricky about Washington Citi Open?
It’s such a strong field there not unlike Hamburg this year. We have Tsitsipas, Khachanov (already lost to Tsonga), Medvedev from the TOP ten, and then Cilic, Anderson, Isner the ex-top tens, and then FAA, Tiafoe, Kyrgios plus the old timers Tsonga, Simon; promising youngster Hurkacz. It’s so loaded there, whoever wins the title is really a well deserved champion.
Oh, there’s De Minaur and Opelka too; Goffin as well! Gosh, who will win the title?
All three of them (De Minaur, Opelka and Goffin) were knocked out already in R1 or R2.
Ricky seems a bit distracted by baseball lately…Don’t really care who wins, just please not a serve bot. Although I have to admit that Opelka may actually have some game beyond his huge serve.
I used to think Washington was at really fast hard court but read it was slower this year.
Kyrgios seemed to be enjoying himself in his first match. We’ll see how long that lasts 😂 And Tsonga looked great against Khachanov. Love seeing him back in action this season
Kyrgios having a hard time putting away a qualifier I believe. I’m more impressed with his opponent, making Kyrgios worked hard for the win!
Guys, anyone know which if the top 3 are playing Montreal and Cincinnati?
Rafa confirmed for Montreal, not sure about Cincy. Fed and Djoko skip Montreal, mostly probably playing Cincy.
Thank you lucky.