Alex de Minaur sealed his return to the quarter-finals at the ABN AMRO Open in Rotterdam Thursday with an impressive victory over #NextGenATP star Jakub Mensik.
The third seed at the indoor hard-court ATP 500 delivered a clinical display to prevail 6-4, 6-4 and continue his assured start to the season. De Minaur, last year’s finalist in Rotterdam, did not face a break point against the heavy-hitting 19-year-old, improving to 9-1 in 2025.
“It’s never easy playing Jakub, he’s one of the best servers on Tour,” said De Minaur, who improved to 2-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head record with Mensik. “He manages to get a lot of free points and at times it’s quite frustrating. One of the key things for me in this type of matchup is to be calm and tell myself that I’m going to give myself chances on return.
“As soon as I walk on court I get those competitive juices… No matter if I'm feeling 100 per cent or a bit sick, I know that I am going to do everything I can to win, and that's just part of my DNA.”
De Minaur’s 88-minute victory over Mensik was his 31st ATP 500 win since the start of the 2023 season, and a quarter-final triumph would level him with Jannik Sinner (32) for most on Tour. Chasing a third tour-title at this level, the No. 8 in the PIF ATP Rankings will next face lucky loser Daniel Altmaier, who overcame World No. 19 Arthur Fils 4-6, 3-6, 7-5.
The key to De Minaur’s second-round win was the success he found in his service games. He won 83 per cent (29/35) of points behind his first delivery, according to Infosys ATP Stats, and was relentless on return, carving out eight break point chances.
“Today I definitely took a little bit of speed off [the serve] and focused more on percentage,” said De Minaur. “I didn’t want to give him too many looks on second serves where he could be aggressive and try to dictate from the very start. I'm glad I could execute and that the game plan worked really well.”
De Minaur has now reached the quarter-finals stage in each of his four previous appearances in Rotterdam, highlighted by his run to the final last year, when he lost to Sinner. The Australian will look to build on a positive start to the year, in which he reached the quarter-finals at his home major in Melbourne for the first time.
Former champion Andrey Rublev booked his spot in a sixth quarter-final in Rotterdam after defeating Fabian Marozsan 7-6(2), 7-6(7). The 27-year-old, who won the title in 2021, let slip a break lead and rallied from 2/4 down in the second-set tie-break to prevail in one hour, 45 minutes. Rublev was beaten by Marozsan in his first match of the season in Hong Kong, but made amends with a composed performance to improve to 2-1 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series.
“I don’t know to be honest,” said Rublev when asked how he managed the second set. “I started to get a bit frustrated, but I was able to shut it down during the tie-break. I was able to calm myself down and I think that’s why I was able to come back.
“In Hong Kong, it was my first match of the year, I was too tight, and Fabian played really well in the important moments. I knew that today was going to be different, because I am more confident in myself. I was able to be there fighting and in the end I was able to win.”
In the quarter-finals, Rublev will face Hubert Hurkacz, who advanced past Jiri Lehecka on Wednesday night. The fourth seed is bidding to clinch his first title since the ATP Masters 1000 in Madrid last year.
Sixth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas also returned to the quarter-finals in Rotterdam with a gutsy 6-7(5), 7-6(6), 7-5 comeback over home favourite Tallon Griekspoor. The World No. 12 saved a match point in the second-set tie-break and recovered from letting slip a break in the decider to reach his 80th tour-level quarter-final after two hours, 57 minutes.
“I’m super glad how things turned around and with the way I delivered at the end,” said Tsitsipas, who improved to 11-6 in Rotterdam. “It was a very physical match, we were battling it out for many hours, I don’t know how many hours… It felt like it wasn’t meant to stop but I put a stop to it towards the end. There were crucial moments that had to be handled correctly, and I did so. I also have to give credit to Tallon because he didn’t seem to be giving up at any point. It’s not easy when you're match point up and find yourself losing that set.”
With his second-round victory, Tsitsipas is up to No. 11 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, and he could return to the Top 10 by reaching the final in Rotterdam.
Faced with an aggressive net-charging performance from Griekspoor in front of his home crowd, Tsitsipas was put under significant pressure throughout the contest. Yet the 2022 finalist kept his cool by backing up a big serve out wide with a clinical drive-volley to save match point in the second-set tie-break.
The 27-year-old squandered a break lead in the latter stages of the decider, but ultimately showed his class. Tsitsipas hit 54 winners against Griekspoor to set a meeting with qualifier Mattia Bellucci, who stunned second seed Daniil Medvedev on Wednesday night.
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