TORONTO (Reuters) – Australia’s Alex De Minaur overcame blustery conditions to secure a breakthrough 6-1 6-3 victory over Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina at the Canadian Open on Saturday to reach the first Masters 1000 final of his career.
De Minaur, who was fresh off an upset over second seed Daniil Medvedev, delivered a simple gameplan in rather tricky conditions while Davidovich Fokina struggled to find any sort of rhythm throughout the 78-minute match.
“First thing I knew once I stepped out on court it wasn’t going to be pretty so I didn’t expect perfect tennis from my side of the court today,” said De Minaur, who wrote “so windy” on an on-court camera lens after the match.
“I just told myself to stay positive, keep competing no matter what and you never know what’s going to happen.
“So I thought I had a great mindset today … didn’t play the best of tennis but I did what needed to be done today in these conditions.”
Up next for De Minaur, who until this week had never before reached the quarter-finals of a Masters 1000 event, will be a clash with either Italian seventh seed Jannik Sinner or 12th-seeded American Tommy Paul.
De Minaur wasted no time setting the tone against Davidovich Fokina as he broke the Spaniard twice en route to a 5-1 lead before serving out the opening set on his first opportunity.
The 24-year-old Australian maintained the pressure as he broke Davidovich Fokina four times to build a 5-2 lead in the second before sealing the match with his seventh break.
“I’ve had a hell of a week. It’s been the breakthrough that I always knew I had inside of me so it’s great to show it and play for a final,” said De Minaur.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
