Alex de Minaur produced a sensational first-set comeback en route to beating Vasek Pospisil 7-6(6), 6-3, 6-2 on Monday for a place in the US Open quarter-finals. The No. 21 seed will next challenge second seed Dominic Thiem or No. 15 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime on Wednesday.
Appearing in his 12th major championship, De Minaur recovered from 2/6 down in the first set tie-break, won four straight games in the second set and defused Pospisil’s power to extend his perfect record to 3-0 against the Canadian.
“The first ser was crucial, with some things going his way and then my way," said De Minaur. "I went 2/6 down, but didn't think I played a bad tie-break and tried to stay calm. I'm just so happy with the way I played to beat Vasek. He is very tricky and aggressive. I tried to stay calm and kept running!”
De Minaur, who is 10 places off his career-high of No. 18 in the FedEx ATP Rankings (28 October 2019), has continued his fine form that helped him win a first ATP Masters 1000 doubles title with Pablo Carreno Busta at the recent Western & Southern Open.
In a high-quality first set, when both players attempted to impose their games — the power and versatility of Popisil, and the flexibility and baseline strength of De Minaur — there were two twists. Firstly, with Pospisil led 3/2 and two consecutive net cords gave the Canadian luck en route to a 6/2 advantage. Then, clever, low returning and pure fight from De Minaur helped the Australian to five straight points and an unlikely first-set lead.
Fired up, Pospisil came out swinging early in the second set, but De Minaur held firm and saved a break point in the third game, before breaking Pospisil’s serve for the first time. From 1-1, De Minaur won four straight games and showcased excellent wheels, while Pospisil continued to fight after he looked low on energy.
De Minaur kept the pressure on. Pospisil, with strapping to his right thigh, got broken to love at 1-1 in the third set and while the 30-year-old continued to fight in his second major quarter-final (also 2015 Wimbledon), the groundstroke consistency of De Minaur was too much.
