ATP Tour

De Minaur defies 33 errors to beat Moutet, Foki upsets Shelton in D.C.

Alex de Minaur overcame a scrappy, error-prone performance to halt the run of French lucky loser Corentin Moutet 6-4, 6-3 and advance to the final of the Mubadala Citi DC Open Saturday night.

The Australian will need to sharpen his game ahead of Sunday’s final against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina after spraying 33 unforced errors, including 21 in the opening set, and 21 for the match on his backhand, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

Spaniard Davidovich Fokina completed a hat-trick of victories against American players, backing up victories over Learner Tien and top seed Taylor Fritz with a 6-2, 7-5 win over fourth seed Ben Shelton in the evening's second semi-final.

"It wasn't pretty tennis, but I knew it was going to be a tricky match without a lot of rhythm," De Minuar said. "That's what he's able to do to opponents. I had the mentality of doing whatever it took to get into the title match tomorrow."

After winning 14 consecutive points to start the second set, De Minaur seemed to be coasting to victory but double faulted to drop serve at 4-1 and later failed to serve out the match at 5-2 in a game that started with a double fault.

In a more promising sign, De Minaur won 17 of 22 points at net, regularly approaching Moutet's weaker backhand wing with impunity.

De Minaur, who also reached the Washington, D.C. final in 2018 (l. to Zverev), improved to a Tour-leading 21 hard-court wins on the season. He also has the most wins at the ATP 500 level (41) since the start of the 2023 season.

By reaching the final, De Minaur passed Andrey Rublev at No. 10 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings.

Moutet, who came into the tournament as a lucky loser after losing in qualifying, has this week climbed 13 spots to No. 46 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, cracking the Top 50 for the first time in his career.

Davidovich Fokina, hit just 10 winners but capitalised on Shelton’s 35 unforced errors, including seven double faults. The 12th seed backed up impressively after the previous night rallying from 2-5 in the third set to beat World No. 4 Fritz around 1 a.m.

He becomes just the second Spanish finalist in Washington, following Alex Corretja’s surprise victory over five-time champion Andre Agassi 25 years ago in 2000.

The recently married 26-year-old claimed a career-best 33rd win on the season and a fifth Top-10 win of the year. He now sits at a career-high No. 19 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, ensuring that he will make his Top 20 debut on Monday.

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"I knew that I wouldn't be fresh after such a late finish, but I knew with Ben that there wouldn't be a lot of long rallies and it would be a quick match. I knew I had to be there for every point,” Davidovich Fokina said.

"It's always special to win against a Top 10 player. To beat one of the best guys in the world is always special. Coming back from 2-5 against Taylor last night was a huge achievement.”