Australia’s Alex de Minaur eased into the Rotterdam Open final on Saturday, bringing to an end, the extraordinary giant-killing run of Italian qualifier Mattia Bellucci with an entertaining straight-sets win.
De Minaur was too consistent for the error-prone Bellucci, who was unable to repeat his earlier heroics against Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas, going down 6-1, 6-2.
The Australian will face the winner of tonight’s semifinal between top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz from Spain and Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz.
“I’m very happy with the level today,” said De Minaur.
“He’s been playing with a lot of confidence this whole week, so I knew it was going to be a very tough battle,” added the third-seeded Australian.
Bellucci was playing his first ATP 500 semifinal but showed few nerves at the start, delighting the crowd with a trick shot winner through his legs in the very first game.
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But a missed smash, an unforced error, and a double-fault gifted De Minaur an early break, and the Australian raced into a 3-0 first-set lead.
A second break followed as De Minaur’s trademark retrieving wore down the Italian. The Australian clinched the set 6-1 with a powerful forehand winner.
De Minaur also broke early in the second set, as Bellucci drifted yet another forehand wide.
Bellucci managed to hold serve at 5-2 but De Minaur wasted little time wrapping up the match, the Italian sending a backhand groundstroke long, his 30th unforced error.
Runner-up last year to world number one Jannik Sinner, De Minaur has enjoyed a comfortable passage to the final, winning all his matches in straight sets.
“The Dutch crowd always treats me very well, and I love coming back here. So hopefully I can get a title this time,” he said.
Content Source: sportstar.thehindu.com