TORONTO — In a thrilling showdown, Australia’s Alex de Minaur triumphed over American Frances Tiafoe with a score of 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, sealing his spot in the men’s singles quarterfinals at the National Bank Open this Sunday.
The ninth-seeded de Minaur capitalized on five out of his ten break-point opportunities during the intense two-hour and 24-minute contest. Notably, he served up six aces while committing five double faults, earning an impressive 77 percent success rate on first serves.
In contrast, the seventh-seeded Tiafoe delivered ten aces against four double faults, winning 74 percent of his first-serve points, and broke de Minaur’s serve three times from seven opportunities.
De Minaur is set to clash with the victor of the late Sunday match between fourth-seeded American Ben Shelton and Italy’s Flavio Cobolli.
Meanwhile, sixth seed Andrey Rublev from Russia progressed after a hard-fought battle that ended with a score of 6-7 (3), 7-6 (2), 3-0 against Spain’s No. 20 seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who was forced to retire in the third set.
Later tonight, the second seed Taylor Fritz from the United States will take on Czechia’s No. 19 seed Jiri Lehecka, with the winner poised to face Rublev in the next round.
