ATP Tour

Nakashima upsets top seed De Minaur at Queen's Club

Brandon Nakashima earned the biggest win of his season on Friday at the HSBC Championships in London, where he upset top seed Alex de Minaur 7-5, 6-3 to reach his third tour-level semi-final of the year.

In a rock-solid display at the Queen’s Club, the American hit the ball cleanly from the baseline to outlast an out-of-sorts De Minaur, who committed a number of uncharacteristic errors in the 90-minute clash.

“Any time you beat a top player like Alex it is a huge accomplishment,” Nakashima said in his on-court interview. “I have been feeling pretty good on the grass with all the matches here. I am happy I am playing well.”

Nakashima saved both breaks he faced according to the Infosys ATP Stats and looked sharp when moving forward, winning nine of 15 points at the net. The 24-year-old has now collected three career victories against Top 10 opponents and improved to 2-1 against World No. 6 De Minaur in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

Still yet to drop a set this week at Queen’s, Nakashima will next face either seventh seed Francisco Cerundolo. Currently sitting at No. 30 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, he is chasing his first title of the season and the second of his career after winning San Diego in 2022.

Nakashima’s attention quickly turned from tennis to football after his win. With the United States set to face Australia in Friday’s World Cup action, he expressed hope that his country could continue the winning mood.

“Hopefully we get another win, it should be an exciting match,” said Nakashima, who wrote a message of support to the United States football team on the camera following his victory. “I wasn’t able to watch the first game of the US but I am happy it is a little earlier today, so I will be able to watch it.”

De Minaur reached the title match in 's-Hertogenbosch last week and was trying to win his third tour-level grass-court trophy this week in London.

In the day's second quarter-final, Cerundolo rallied from a break down in the third set to move past British wild card Arthur Fery 7-6(1), 3-6, 6-4.

Fery was competing in his first tour-level quarter-final and would've risen into the Top 100 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings with victory. However, seventh seed Cerundolo refused to go away in the third set, prevailing in two hours and 39 minutes to advance to his second semi-final on grass. The Argentine won the trophy on the surface in Eastbourne in 2023.

In other action, Tommy Paul extended his winning streak at the Queen's Club to eight matches with a 6-3, 7-6(4) win against Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.

Paul lifted the trophy at the tournament in 2024 but missed last year's edition due to injury. The American was in control for large periods of his quarter-final clash against Davidovich Fokina and now holds a perfect 6-0 Lexus ATP Head2Head record against the 27-year-old.

Paul is two wins from his second trophy of 2026 and next faces Ugo Humbert. Humbert saved four match points in his second-round win against Hamad Medjedovic and then dispatched Rinky Hijikata 6-1, 6-2 to reach the last four.