De Minaur Stays Perfect In Mexico, Reaches Los Cabos SFs

Alex de Minaur is still perfect, both this season in Mexico and in his Lexus ATP Head2Head against Tommy Paul.

On Thursday at the Mifel Tennis Open by Telcel Oppo, De Minaur earned a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win against the American to move within two victories of a second title on Mexican soil this season. It was a rematch of March’s Acapulco final, which the Aussie also won in three sets.

De Minaur is now 5-0 in the pair’s budding rivalry. All five of their meetings have come in the past 18 months, and the past three have gone three sets.

Now 8-0 in Mexico this year, De Minaur will next put his his winning streak on the line against Dominik Koepfer in Friday’s semi-finals.

Against Paul, the Aussie overcame a 1-3 deficit in the final set, winning the final five games to secure the victory. His speed and relentless defending frustrated Paul in the late stages, with the third seed overhitting as he struggled to break down his opponent.

After two hours, 25 minutes on the Los Cabos stadium court, Paul finished with 28 winners but was undone by his 17 unforced errors, many coming during De Minaur’s closing surge. The steady Aussie recorded 10 winners and 13 unforced errors but locked in from the baseline down the stretch.

Earlier on Thursday, the seventh-seeded Koepfer secured his second ATP Tour semi-final appearance with a 6-4, 7-5 win against American Aleksandar Kovacevic. The German was playing in his second consecutive tour-level quarter-final after reaching that stage in Atlanta last week (l. to J.J. Wolf).