Perfect 10: Demon recovers from brink of defeat to win title

5 hours ago 4

When the going gets tough, Alex de Minaur gets tougher.

The Australian became a 10-time champion on the ATP Tour on Monday (AEST), recovering from 5-2 down in the final set of the Washington Open final to outlast childhood rival Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (7-3) in another performance packed with mental resilience.

Alex de Minaur came back from the brink of defeat to win the Washington Open title.

De Minaur saved three separate championship points in a nerve-jangling, 14-minute service game at 4-5, including a defensive backhand lob that barely touched the sideline on the third of them.

He never trailed in the tie-break – but twice handed back mini-break leads – before sealing victory after three hours and two minutes of tense and absorbing tennis that owed to repeatedly brave shot-making in the toughest moments.

De Minaur is now only one career title behind Australian greats Patrick Rafter and Mark Philippoussis. He is the fifth Australian to win in Washington, with Nick Kyrgios the most recent in 2019 and 2022.

“I don’t know [how I did that]. It’s something about this court. I did it in 2018 against [Andrey] Rublev, and honestly, I just kind of knew I could do it,” de Minaur said.

“I just backed myself and told myself to commit, no matter what, and if I lost this match, it was going to be on my terms, and today went my way. I’ve had a couple of brutal ones not go my way, so I’m glad this one [did].

“I’m very happy with where I am at the moment, [and] how I’m dealing with things on and off the court. I had the mindset that even if today didn’t go my way, it was a very positive week, so I was proud of my efforts, no matter what, but, geez, it feels good to hold my 10th title.”

It was the second time this year that a heartbroken Davidovich Fokina, who buried himself in a towel post-match, lost from 5-2 up in the deciding set of a final, after blowing multiple match points in the Delray Beach title match in February.

De Minaur has now won three titles at ATP 500 level – below only grand slams and Masters 1000 events – on top of his back-to-back wins in Acapulco, Mexico, also on hardcourt, in 2023 and 2024.

He secured a top-10 return by just making the final, but his win will propel him five spots to No.8 in the rankings, only two places off his career-best status from after Wimbledon last year before a hip injury derailed his season.

Now, de Minaur has a great shot at surpassing those heights, with few points to defend outside his US Open quarter-final 12 months ago while still physically compromised, which he rates as one of his best results, given the circumstances.

Nearby lightning delayed the start of the Washington final by about 45 minutes before de Minaur and Davidovich Fokina, who are both 26 and grew up playing each other in Spain, played out an opening set full of punishing baseline exchanges in unforgiving humidity.

De Minaur snatched back an early break to draw level but a fluffed overhead while serving for a 6-5 lead – which coincided with a fan yelling out from the stands – proved his undoing.

Instead of having two game points, he slipped to 30-all, and the pressure took its toll as Davidovich Fokina benefited from consecutive unforced errors from the Australian, who committed an uncharacteristic 21 against only five winners in the first set.

Fokina, who will make his top-20 debut this week, staved off another break-back point on his way to securing a deserved one-set advantage with some spectacular hitting as he chased a maiden ATP title.

But de Minaur went into lockdown mode from the start of set two after his error-strewn start, immediately pouncing on a dip from Davidovich Fokina to race to a 3-0 lead.

The Spaniard’s resistance waned the longer the set went, particularly as de Minaur refused to gift him any cheap points and began cruising through the service games he found so difficult a set earlier.

By set’s end, de Minaur conceded only three unforced errors while maintaining a depth that Davidovich Fokina found difficult to attack.

But any signs of vulnerability from Davidovich Fokina evaporated once the third set began. After struggling for the previous half hour to make inroads on de Minaur’s serve, he made his move in the fourth game.

Australia’s world No.13 wilted on three straight points – missing each time by a significant margin – then watched Davidovich Fokina thump a cross-court backhand at 15-40 to regain the ascendancy. He looked to be steaming to the title before stumbling with the finish line in sight.