Alex de Minaur has added one other large title win to his career-best season, with a straight-sets win over 12-time champion Rafael Nadal in Barcelona.
18 April 2024 | Vivienne Christie
Alex de Minaur has added one other big-name win to his career-best season, after eliminating Rafael Nadal within the second spherical of the Barcelona Open.
De Minaur, seeded No.4 on the ATP 500 clay-court event, required an hour and 52 minutes to finish his 7-5 6-1 win.
He grew to become the primary Australian participant to defeat the 22-time Grand Slam champion on clay.
It additionally ended Nadal’s eight-match successful streak on the floor, which dates again to his 2022 Roland Garros title win.
Nadal, a 12-time champion in Barcelona, famous De Minaur’s spectacular progress in current months, through which he has claimed wins over Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev, Andrey Rublev and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
“Alex is a good participant. By way of tennis immediately, he was in higher form than me,” stated Nadal, who has been restricted to only 5 matches in an injury-disrupted season.
“He has actually performed at a really excessive degree because the starting of the season. I believe he has made a vital step ahead in his degree of tennis. I’m simply completely satisfied for him and I congratulate him for the extent he performed immediately.”
What an ovation ☺️👋
Barcelona rises to salute their 12-time champion @RafaelNadal @bcnopenbs | #BCNOpenBS pic.twitter.com/VAriVeiRu0
— ATP Tour (@atptour) April 17, 2024
It improves De Minaur’s head-to-head report towards the prolific Spaniard to 2 wins in 5 matches. His different win over the Spaniard occurred on the United Cup final yr.
De Minaur was the second Australian participant to progress to the third spherical in Barcelona, with Jordan Thompson claiming a three-sets win over Spaniard Jaime Munar earlier within the day.
The 29-year-old Sydneysider is sitting at a career-high world No.32 within the rankings, following his ATP-level title breakthrough at Los Cabos in February.
Whereas De Minaur will goal to proceed his progress in Barcelona – the place he was a quarterfinalist final yr and a semifinalist in 2022 – towards Frenchman Arthur Fils, Thompson subsequent faces No.3 seed Casper Ruud.
Aussies in motion – Barcelona
RESULTS
Males’s singles, second spherical
[4] Alex de Minaur (AUS) d (PR) Rafael Nadal 7-5 6-1
[14] Jordan Thompson (AUS) d Jaume Munar (ESP) 6-4 2-6 6-4 b
COMING UP
Males’s singles, third spherical
[4] Alex de Minaur (AUS) v [16] Arthur Fils (FRA)
[14] Jordan Thompson (AUS) v [3] Casper Ruud (NOR)
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