Aussie teenager Alex De Minaur reached back to back ATP Semi-Finals with an impressive 6-4 6-4 victory over Feliciano Lopez at the Sydney International.
The World number 167 followed up his amazing week in Brisbane with another sensational performance this week in Sydney. The 18 year old broke Lopez in the ninth game with some stunning groundstrokes to break for a 5-4 lead. After a tricky game, De Minaur held to close out the opening set in 41 minutes.
The Sydney born star then raced into an impressive 4-1 lead in the second set as he comfortably dealt with the Spaniard’s awkward style of play. Despite the world number 36 grabbing one of the breaks back, De Minaur remained composed and closed out the match to reach his second consecutive ATP World Tour Semi-Final.
The win also means that De Minaur has become the lowest ranked Sydney Semi-Finalist since Andrey Cherkasov in 1989 when he was ranked at 223 in the world. The Australian will now face Benoit Paire as he defeated defending champion Gilles Muller 6-4 6-4 to also reach back to back Semi-Finals. The world number 42 fired down 17 aces as he continued the momentum that he created in Pune last week.
In the other Semi-Final Daniil Medvedev will meet Fabio Fognini. Medvedev, who came through qualifying, broke four times as he defeated Paolo Lorenzi, 6-3 6-3. While Fognini came past Adrian Mannarino in a tough 6-7(4) 7-6(4) 6-2 victory.
