WASHINGTON, D.C.: At the finals for this season’s Washington title, Alex de Minaur made an impressive comeback after dropping the first set and saved three match points. He defeated Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 5-7, 6-1, 7-6(3) in the ATP 500 final match.
Back in 2018, de Minaur was a runner-up to Alexander Zverev. Now, he felt that luck was on his side as he clinched his 10th career trophy and secured his place in the world’s top 10 rankings before the start of the US Open next month.
With his win, de Minaur expressed: “I came here in 2018 and it gave me so much confidence, so I’m so happy that I was able to come back and end up winning the title.”
He added: “Alejandro, you’re way too good not to have one of these, it’s coming for sure… You deserved it today, I just got lucky. You are a hell of a competitor, hell of a player. No one on the tour wants to play you. And this is not the end, this is only going on for you.”
Fokina declared: “He deserved the win, he was fighting every … ball, he was always pushing through my limits.
“We had a job to do before we started the year, to be at the middle of the year in the top 20. This week we did it, just not with the trophy. But for sure, we will keep going, pushing our limits, pushing harder,” he further stated.
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On social media, de Minaur shared this milestone with a caption: “What a special week in D.C. 🇺🇸🏆 Happy to claim my 10th ATP title! Thanks for all the support throughout the week — you guys are the best 🙌… Big respect to @aledavidovichofficial for a great final battle 💪”
A netizen commented: “It truly was an incredible match and an amazing come back from 4-1 down 👏 Alex you are a champion on and off the court 🇦🇺🎾😈🤩.”
Another netizen remarked: “Congratulations, Alex. What a great win, and your speech was so kind and thoughtful. You deserve these victories – you are such a hard worker and always so humble. Keep going – vamos!”
One more netizen said: “Wow just wow. 👏 all of it, a spectacular display of talent, sportsmanship and moxi! Cheers mate! Best comeback ever, and the quality was off the charts! 💪🏻🎾❤️.”
Highlights of the match
During the match, both athletes broke each other’s serve a few times in the first set. Moving forward, Davidovich Fokina took control by breaking again and winning the set with strong forehand shots.
However, de Minaur fought back strongly in the second set as he made the most of two out of four chances to break his opponent’s serve. He then finished the set quickly with an ace, tying the match.
In the final set, Davidovich Fokina looked like he might win when he broke serve to lead 5-3, but he made a mistake and gave his opponent a break back. De Minaur then took advantage of the mishaps and went on to win the match.
