Australian Alex de Minaur has snapped a three-match losing streak to advance to the second round at an ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Cincinnati. He played an exhausting game to stake his win and to make his country proud. Australians around the world sat at the edge of their set whilst this man played a match that lasted more than two hours.
The No.14-seeded Australian showed his fighting spirit in a 0-6 6-4 6-4 win against Serbia’s Filip Krajinovic earlier this week. After being outplayed in the rain-delayed opening set, De Minaur fought back to secure victory in a two-hour and eight-minute battle. He hit eight aces in the match, including four in a tense deciding set.
This will be De Minaur’s first singles win since capturing his fifth career ATP singles title at Eastbourne in June. Since securing his first grass-court singles title, De Minaur had lost in the opening round at Wimbledon, Washington and Toronto. It was a good win for the tennis player as he hadn’t won very many since June and he played to win this one.
He was also selected to represent Australia at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in July, but was unable to compete after testing positive to COVID-19 shortly before the event. De Minaur, who is the only Australian representative in the men’s singles draw in Cincinnati this week, plays either Serbian Dusan Lajovic or France’s Gael Monfils in the next round.
What has to be taken into consideration is that the fact these players even with the ongoing pandemic these athletes still train and play so that the show will defintly go on. They are taking calculated risks and these wins are worthy.
