World No. 8 Alex de Minaur battled through a tense semi-final, saving 10 break points en route to securing a spot in the Rotterdam final.
The Australian was put under pressure by Ugo Humbert but in the big moments, De Minaur delivered as he saved every break point he faced.
That allowed him to take a 6-4, 6-3 victory in a match that last a little over 90 minutes and now De Minaur is looking to go one better among een the runner up in each of the past two tournaments.
In the final, he will face either Felix Auger-Aliassime or Alexander Bublik but speaking on court after the semi-final, he said he hoped to not have to be saving that many break points ahead.
“I’m super proud of the efforts,” he said. “Today, again, there were a lot of tough moments, a lot of break points, a lot of tricky situations. But I managed to dig myself out of them and I’m super pumped to be in another final here and give myself another chance of hopefully getting the title.
“It’s hard to get a lot of rhythm against him (Humbert). He looks to get the first strike in the rally whenever he can.
“He’s such a clean ballstriker and there’s not too many rallies that go up so it’s really hard to get that rhythm and feel comfortable. Not every match you get the chance to be aggressive. Today was one I was certainly not able to do that, but hey, I found a way.”
The lack of Carlos Alcaraz or Anni Sinner at this tournament has prevented the rest of the tour with a rare opportunity for some silverware but De Minaur will be all too aware of his record at this venue.
In 2024, he reached the final only to lose to Alcaraz and did so again in 2025, this time being defeated by Jannik Sinner.
Since 2023, no men’s player has won more ATP 500 matches than De Minaur but he has just three titles in that time – Acapulco twice and Washington.
The Australian has already earned 245 ranking points so far this tournament and could overtake Taylor Fritz to move into seventh should he win the final and the American fail to progress in Dallas.
