Alex de Minaur has enjoyed a belated birthday present by battling into the last-16 of the Qatar Open with a straight-sets victory over stubborn Russian Roman Safiullin.
Australia’s No.1 had spent his 26th birthday on Monday on the practice courts at the Khalifa International Tennis Complex in Doha, and emerged in sharp mood the day after as he wore down some late resistance from the former Wimbledon quarter-finalist Safiullin to triumph 6-1 7-5.
In difficult, blustery conditions on Tuesday, it was the ideal start for de Minaur, who has been handed a pretty kind early draw in his latest quest to win an ATP 500 tournament after being beaten in the final in Rotterdam nine days earlier.
De Minaur’s record in the high-level 500 events has been exceptional since the start of 2023. Indeed, no player has won more than his 34 matches over the last three years, which featured two title triumphs in Acapulco.
But the ATP schedule this year has prompted de Minaur to take the ‘no-brainer’ option of seeking the huge ranking points on offer in three straight 500 tournaments in Rotterdam, Qatar and Dubai rather than go for a hat-trick of triumphs in Mexico.
So far, it’s so good for the Australian as he enjoyed his tour-leading 12th victory of the year on Tuesday, having lost only two, in the Australian Open to Jannik Sinner and in Rotterdam to Carlos Alcaraz.
Alex De MInaur claimed his 200th hard-court win on the ATP Tour on Tuesday, a day after he celebrated his 26th birthday
In difficult, blustery conditions on Tuesday, he beat stubborn Russian Roman Safiullin 6-1 7-5
British tennis star Katie Boulter has wished her fiancé Alex de Minaur a happy 26th birthday by sharing a series of sweet photos to social media
But it turned out to be slightly harder work than he had expected in the cool, humid and windy conditions as he took on Safiullin, who’s had a winless start to the year.
‘Oh man, they’re tough days, these ones,’ smiled de Minaur, after his victory in one hour 37 minutes over the world No 71.
‘It’s cold, it’s windy, you don’t really want to get out of bed, but once you step out on court, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do to win, whether it’s ugly tennis or pretty tennis.
‘It was swirling wind, it wasn’t constant, so it made it quite difficult to play and feel comfortable out there. So out went any sort of tactics you had for the match and it was all about surviving more than anything.
‘At the end of the day, you’ve just got to find a way to get the ball in the court and that’s what I did today.’
Some of de Minaur’s tennis was ‘pretty’, though, despite the conditions and it was mostly Safiullin who served up the ‘ugly’ stuff with 44 errors, which were all classified as ‘unforced’ despite the constant pressure the Australian was exerting on his low-on-confidence opponent.
De Minaur, who recorded his 200th tour-level win on hard courts, won five games on the bounce to sweep through the first set in 36 minutes and it all looked plain sailing as he broke for 3-2 in the second and served for the match at 5-4.
But Safiullin then went for broke, levelling at 5-5 only for the world No.6 to raise his game once more and immediately break back before serving out for a win that sets up a last-16 date with Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp, victor over Jordan’s Abedallah Shelbayh 7-5 6-3.
Leave a Reply