Alex de Minauer got here collectively from set down to avoid wasting three championship factors for a 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (3) victory over Alejandro Davidevich Fokina within the closing of Sunday’s DC Open.
De Minaur, a 26-year-old Australian, received his tenth ATP title and his eighth on the laborious courtroom as he completed seventh within the match. He was runner-up for Washington’s Alexander Zverev in 2018, and will likely be within the high 10 world rankings forward of the US opening subsequent month.
No. 12 seed Davidovich Fokina led 5-2 on Sunday within the third set, falling 0-4 in his closing profession regardless of standing just one level from the victory. It was his second time frittering a number of match factors on this yr’s match finals.
The 26-year-old Spaniard enters the week with No. 26 and makes his debut within the high 20 on Monday. He stays the very best ranked man and not using a title.
“Alejandro, it is too good that you haven’t any of those, it is actually coming,” De Minauer mentioned on the on-court ceremony gesturing the trophy. “You deserve it in the present day, I have been fortunate. You are a hell of rivals and a hell of gamers. Nobody on tour needs to play you.”
After their match, De Minaur walked over and sat subsequent to Davidevich Fokina to consolation him after a fierce battle defeat.
“Congratulations to Alex. He deserves victory. He was preventing all of the f–in balls,” Davidevich Fokina mentioned. “He was all the time pushing my limits.”
Davidovich Fokina remembers that he wanted a wild card to play for US capital final yr and is happy to make sure he at the least was in a position to assure a career-high rise to the nineteenth place rating.
“We have been doing the work we needed to do to be in the midst of the yr within the high 20 earlier than we began this yr,” he mentioned. “This week we didn’t simply the trophies, however it’s positively going to maintain going, pushing the boundaries and pushing more durable.”
The Related Press and Reuters contributed to the report.
