![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n
\u201cHe came out with some great serving, a lot of first serves,\u201d the top-seeded Aussie said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI played at a high level. I just threw in two pretty awful games on my serve.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a little bit frustrating, but you live and you learn.\u201d <\/p>\n
World number 33 Nakashima booked a Saturday all-American semi-final against 10th-ranked Taylor Fritz, who outlasted countryman Alex Michelsen 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (8\/6).<\/p>\n
Nakashima, whose only ATP title came at San Diego in 2022, never trailed de Minaur in the tie-break and fired his eighth of 10 aces to take the first set.<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 30: Alex de Minaur of Australia looks on during a men’s singles match against Cruz Hewitt of Australia on day four of the Mubadala DC Open 2026 at William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center on July 30, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Emilee Chinn\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a very quick and explosive player,\u201d Nakashima said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI knew I had to serve well at the crucial moments and try to be aggressive.\u201d <\/p>\n
Nakashima broke in the ninth game of the second set then held on a service winner to end matters after one hour and 54 minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was probably playing better, having better stats on top in the first set, and it just slipped away,\u201d de Minaur said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn the second set I\u2019ve got my chances. Break points, just can\u2019t convert. All of a sudden I throw in a bad game, and that\u2019s the match.\u201d Nakashima saved six of seven break points he faced in improving to 3-1 in their personal rivalry, including a Queen\u2019s quarter-final triumph in June.<\/p>\n
World number three Pegula, an American who won her first career WTA title at Washington in 2019, eliminated 20th-ranked Anna Kalinskaya 6-3, 7-5, to reach her sixth WTA semi-final of the year.<\/p>\n
Alex de Minaur sets up all Aussie final | 01:03<\/p>\n
\u201cSince the beginning of the year I\u2019m finding more confidence in matches hitting different spots,\u201d Pegula said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was focusing on that a lot today.\u201d Pegula will play berth in the final against fourth seed Diana Shnaider, who ousted Russian compatriot Liudmila Samsonova 6-3, 6-4.<\/p>\n
Japan\u2019s third-seeded Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam winner, rallied to eliminate Italy\u2019s Elisabetta Cocciaretto 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 after two hours and 11 minutes.<\/p>\n
World number 13 Osaka next faces either Ukraine\u2019s second-seeded Elina Svitolina or Alexandra Eala of the Philippines.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the first set, I had low energy and I kept trying to pump myself up but something was a little flat,\u201d Osaka said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn the second, I just wanted to give it my best shot even though I wasn\u2019t playing too good.\u201d <\/p>\n
Pegula seeks her 12th career WTA crown and third of the year after triumphs in Dubai and Charleston.<\/p>\n
She broke in the fourth game and held from there to take the first set in 37 minutes then broke in the 11th game of the second set and held at love to advance.<\/p>\n
Osaka was undone by 18 unforced errors, three times as many as her rival, in dropping the first set after 41 minutes.<\/p>\n
She reached a third set when Cocciaretto double-faulted away a break in the 10th game of set two.<\/p>\n
Osaka hit a backhand winner to break in the second game of the final set and held from there<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Defending champion Alex de Minaur was bounced out of the Washington Open by Brandon Nakashima on Friday (all…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":836929,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":["post-836928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=836928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/836929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=836928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=836928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=836928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}