Alex de Minaur has written his name into tennis‘ record books after making the final at the Rotterdam Open for the third year running. The Aussie star was too good for Ugo Humbert in Saturday night’s semi-final, winning 6-4 6-3 to advance to the decider.
In doing so, he became the only man in tennis history to make the final in Rotterdam three years in a row. The indoor tournament in the Netherlands has been around for 54 years, and even though the great Roger Federer made five-straight quarter-finals there he never made three finals back-to-back-to-back.
The moment Alex de Minaur made the Rotterdam Open final for the third year in a row. Image: Getty/ATP
De Minaur will be hoping to win the tournament for the first time after his previous two finals came against Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner – the World No.1 and 2. He’ll face Felix Auger Aliassime for the chance to become just the second Australian to win the tournament after Lleyton Hewitt in 2004.
“I’m super proud of the effort,” said de Minaur after beating Humbert. “Again, a lot of tough moments, a lot of break points, a lot of tricky situations, but I managed to kind of dig myself out of them. Yeah, super pumped to give myself another chance of hopefully getting the title.”
Can Alex de Minaur win 11th career ATP title?
If he can triumph on Sunday night, he’d capture an 11th career ATP title and his first indoors. “It’s hard to get a lot of rhythm against him,” de Minaur said of World No.36 Humbert. “It’s hard to really feel comfortable, so a lot today was just about trying to be solid, trying to make that extra ball, to keep asking questions.
“It’s not every match you get the chance to be aggressive, and today was certainly one where I was not able to do that, but hey, I found a way. And on to the next.
“The plan is to go for the title. No regrets. Whatever happens tomorrow happens, go for it. I don’t want to leave the court thinking about the ‘what ifs’. Ultimately, these are the types of matches you go to to win the title and not hope the other player loses it, and that’s going to be my mindset.”
Alex de Minaur was too good for Ugo Humbert at the Rotterdam Open.
(Alex Bierens de Haan via Getty Images)
De Minaur lost to Sinner in the 2024 decider before going down to Alcaraz last year. The top two players in men’s tennis have opted to skip Rotterdam this year.