For his first quarter-final of the Masters 1000, Friday in Toronto, Alex De Minaur (24) offered world number 3 Daniil Medvedev in two sets (7-6 (7), 7-5), his sixth victory of the season against a member of the top 10. The Australian, 18th in the world, joins Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, 37th, in an unexpected semi-final.
Winner of the tournament in 2021, Daniil Medvedev will be able to regret his missed opportunities in the first set, where he led 5 games to 2, then 5-1 in the tie-break (three unconverted set points). Author of as many unforced errors as winning shots (14 each time), the Russian let the set slip through his fingers.
Broken twice in the second set, Alex De Minaur came back to score each time (from 2-0 to 2-2, then from 4-2 to 4-4) before taking his opponent’s serve one last time , at the best of times, on a double fault from the Russian (his seventh of the match). On Monday, the Australian will be 14th in the world at worst, his best ranking, and can dream of better in the event of a final.
