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Alex de Minaur thanked Carlos Alcaraz after completing his remarkable revival at the ATP Finals to reach the semi-finals for the first time.
The Australian admitted to being in a “dark place” after starting the tournament with defeats to Alcaraz and Lorenzo Musetti, where he squandered a third-set lead against the Italian.
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De Minaur defeated Taylor Fritz in straight-sets to keep himself in contention (AFP via Getty Images)
Requiring a straight-sets win over Taylor Fritz to keep his hopes alive, De Minaur came out firing to defeat the American 7-6(3) 6-3, writing “finally” on the camera lens after securing his first top-10 win of the season.
De Minaur then appeared surprised to learn that he was still in contention to make the semi-finals. During a post-match interview, De Minaur was told that all he needed to reach the semi-finals was Alcaraz defeating Musetti, and replied: “Is that actually true? I don’t know, I don’t trust you.”
After then understanding the situation, De Minaur said he would be supporting Alcaraz against Musetti and the Spaniard later wrapped up a 7-5 6-2 win to complete his perfect round-robin record and claim the year-end No 1 ranking ahead of Jannik Sinner.
De Minaur then took to Instagram to post: “Let’s gooooooo! Semis next. PS: Gracias Carlos”.
The result completed a remarkable turnaround for De Minaur, who openly questioned himself after his defeat to Musetti and revealed his run of results was “mentally killing me”.
Instead, De Minaur’s first win at the ATP Finals, in his sixth attempt, secured his place in the semi-finals ahead of Fritz and Musetti.
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De Minaur is into the semi-finals of the tournament for the first time (Getty Images)
“I’ve dealt with a fair bit of heartbreak recently, it was good to finally get a win here in Turin,” he said. “I’ve worked really hard so it was good to get some positive feedback or a positive reward for the hard work, so very happy with the performance today.”
It will likely set up a semi-final match with defending champion Sinner, who has won all 12 previous matches against De Minaur in one of the most one-sided head-to-head records in the the sport.
Sinner can book top spot in his round-robin, and avoid Alcaraz in the semi-finals, if he beats Ben Shelton on Friday afternoon.