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Australia's own 'giant killer' Alex de Minaur has a chance to take down more of tennis' top dogs after winning a wildcard for Wimbledon.

The teenage weapon recently climbed into the top 100 with a career-high 78 world ranking after taking home some silverware at the Nottingham Challenger event, beating Dan Evans 7-6 7-5.

The performance backed up a runners-up result at last week's Surbiton where he was edged out by top-seeded Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.

MORE: Wimbledon 2018: Draw, schedule, how to watch

He had previously won a wildcard at the French Open where he fell to world number 16 Kyle Edmund in straight sets.

Background
Born to a Spanish mum and a Uruguayan dad, De Minaur spent the first five years of his life in Sydney. He has since split his time between Spain and Australia, finishing his schooling while on tour.

The right-hander is backed by Tennis Australia and says grass is favourite surface to play on.

An avid golfer, the ‘Demon’ says Hewitt and Roger Federer were his idols growing up.

Junior Results
De Minaur is a past winner of the Australian Under 14s and Under 16s Championships, held at Melbourne Park.

In 2016, he won the Australian Open Boys’ doubles alongside Blake Ellis and reached a junior singles ranking of number two in the world.

De Minaur reached the semi-finals of the 2015 Boys’ US Open and a year later was beaten in the Boys’ Wimbledon final by current world number 50 Dennis Shapovalov.



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On Tour
De Minaur made his professional debut at a Futures tournament in Spain in July 2015 and first appeared in the ATP rankings at 1544 in August of that year.

He made his Grand Slam debut at the Australian Open last year, beating Gerald Melzer in the first round, before losing in straight sets to Sam Querrey in the round of 64.

De Minaur drew Robin Haase in the first round of the French Open and went out in straight sets, before losing in the second round of qualifying for Wimbledon.

At the US Open last year, he was unlucky to draw current world number eight Dominic Thiem and went out in the first round 4-6 1-6 1-6.

Stellar start to 2018
The 18-year-old made it to his first ATP Tour semi-final in Brisbane in early January, beating Steve Johnson, Raonic and Michael Mmoh all in straight sets. After winning the first set and having the upper hand in a second set tiebreak, De Minaur lost to Ryan Harrison in the semis.

A week later, in Sydney, the young Aussie has gone a step further by reaching his first ATP final at the Sydney International after beating world-number 42 Benoit Paire, 4-6 6-1 6-1, in the semi-finals. The in-form young gun overcame a shaky first set where he dropped a break point with the scores tied at 4-4 in the first set, demolishing his French opponent in the following two sets as he went on to win 12 of the next 14 games. He will face Russian Daniil Medvedev in the final.

Earlier in the tournament, he caused a boilover with a 6-4 6-2 first round win over Verdasco, before overpowering world number 30 Damir Dzumhur to reach the quarter-finals. De Minaur won the first set 6-2 and was up 3-0 in the second set when Dzumhur retired.

Other big scalps on his record include Tommy Robredo in October, Paire in Sydney last year and quickly rising American talent Frances Tiafoe in Brisbane.


Big Praise from Big Names
Lleyton Hewitt has taken De Minaur under his wing, while Nick Kyrgios sung his praises after the Brisbane International.

"He's got a lot of good guys to guide him, obviously Lleyton and the team,” Kyrgios said.

“He's unbelievable to watch, I think he's going to have a great year."

Rugby League fan
After upsetting Raonic in Brisbane, De Minaur shouted ‘Blue Wall’ which is a reference to the New South Wales State of Origin team.

Although he has spent plenty of time in Europe, he’s a rugby league fan – and a New South Welshman.

“Blue Wall is what the NSW State of Origin team calls themselves,” he said.

“And it’s sort of a mindset of trying to be a brick wall potentially, just not giving anything away, not giving anything cheap away, and just pretty much leaving it all out there.

“So that’s what I like to think Blue Wall is.

Aussie reached the Round of 32 for the first time at a Grand Slam
One year ago, Alex de Minaur fell in the second round of qualifying at The Championships. Then 18 years old, he was No. 244 in the ATP Rankings.
How quickly things can change. One year on, the #NextGenATP Aussie is into the third round at Wimbledon, his best result at a major, defeating Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-2, 6-7(8), 7-5, 6-3 in three hours, five minutes on Thursday to set up a meeting against World No. 1 Rafael Nadal.

De Minaur continues the best season of his young career. After entering 2018 with two tour-level victories, the 19-year-old has nine this season alone. The World No. 80 reached his maiden ATP World Tour final in January at the Sydney International (l. to Medvedev), and has also competed well on the ATP Challenger Tour. De Minaur captured his maiden Challenger title just weeks ago at the Nature Valley Open in Nottingham.

Another #NextGenATP player Frances Tiafoe also earned his best Grand Slam result on Day Four. The American beat French veteran Julien Benneteau 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 to earn a spot in the third round against Russian Karen Khachanov or Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis.
Tiafoe has enjoyed his best year yet as well, lifting his first ATP World Tour trophy at the Delray Beach Open, before reaching his second final at the Millennium Estoril Open (l. to Sousa). Before 2018, Tiafoe had not reached the quarter-finals at a tour-level event.

Did You Know?
Three #NextGenATP players have now advanced to the third round. Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas battled through a two-day five-setter against 2017 Next Gen ATP Finals qualifier Jared Donaldson to reach the third round at a major for the first time.

Nineteen-year-old Aussie to face top-seeded Isner
The 2018 ATP World Tour season has been a breakout campaign for Aussie Alex de Minaur, who continued his rise with a 1-6, 7-6(0), 7-6(5) victory against fellow #NextGenATP player Hubert Hurkacz at the BB&T Atlanta Open on Monday.

"It wasn't the prettiest of wins, but it's a very important win for me," De Minaur said. "I managed to dig deep, stay tough and beat a quality opponent."

De Minaur, the youngest player in the Atlanta field at 19 years, five months, won three fewer points than the Pole in the match. However, he won 76 per cent of second-serve points en route to his 12th tour-level victory of the year (12-11).


The right-hander finished 2017 at No. 208 in the ATP Rankings. But a semi-final showing in Brisbane and his first championship match in Sydney to start the year set De Minaur in the right direction. And thanks to a third-round appearance at Wimbledon, the Aussie is up to a career-best World No. 68. But while trailing a set and a break on Monday, it appeared the teenager was in danger of a first-round exit.

"I just tried to stay positive throughout the whole match, tried to dig deep," De Minaur said. "I knew that if I could just sort of get my teeth into it, I was going to start playing some better tennis and I played some big points on the big occasions. That got me that second set and then I was able to get that momentum going."

De Minaur served for the match at 5-4 in the third set, and then held a 4/1 advantage in the final-set tie-break. But while Hurkacz evened the tie-break at 5/5, he could not complete the comeback. At 5/5, Hurkacz hit a big cross-court forehand to elicit an error from De Minaur, but a challenge revealed that his shot missed just wide. And on match point, the 19-year-old struck a backhand return that barely scraped the baseline, clinching his triumph.


De Minaur will next face top seed John Isner, who will be competing in his first match since reaching the Wimbledon semi-finals. In other action, Eastbourne runner-up Lukas Lacko cruised past Indian Prajnesh Gunneswaran 6-2, 6-2 in 52 minutes. Croat Ivo Karlovic led American Donald Young 6-2, 5-5 before heavy rain forced the cancellation of the day's remaining play.

Third Seeds Hold Off Kyrgios/Kokkinakis
Three of De Minaur’s countrymen were involved in a first-round doubles clash with John-Patrick Smith and American Nicholas Monroe teaming to deny wild card pairing Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios. The No. 3 seeds prevailed 7-6(2), 6-4, withstanding 11 aces and saving all nine break points faced.

British pair Luke Bambridge and Jonny O’Mara dropped just seven first-serve points on their way past Romanian-German duo Marius Copil and Mischa Zverev, 6-4, 6-4, while another Brit, Ken Skupski, teamed with India’s Purav Raja to see off the Lithuanian-Tunisian combination of Ricardas Berankis and Malek Jaziri 6-4, 6-3. Raja/Skupski broke four times in the 67-minute encounter.

Did You Know?
De Minaur entered 2018 with two tour-level match wins. He now owns a 12-11 record this season.

- Udało mi się wyjść z dołka, pozostać twardym i pokonać jakościowego rywala - powiedział Alex de Minaur po meczu z Hubertem Hurkaczem w I rundzie turnieju ATP w Atlancie.

W poniedziałek, w I rundzie turnieju ATP World Tour 250 w Atlancie, Alex de Minaur pokonał 1:6, 7:6(0), 7:6(5) Huberta Hurkacza, choć przegrywał już 1:6 i 1:3. - To nie była najładniejsza wygrana, ale dla mnie to bardzo ważne zwycięstwo - mówił po meczu.
Australijczyk zwyciężył, choć ustąpił Polakowi niemal we wszystkich wartościach statystycznych. Zdobył mniej gemów (15, przy 18 Hurkacza), mniej punktów (97-100), mniej przełamań (2-4) oraz posłał mniejszą liczbę asów (2-9). - Udało mi się wyjść z dołka, pozostać twardym i pokonać jakościowego rywala - ocenił.

- Przez cały mecz starałem się zachowywać pozytywne myślenie. W pewnym momencie zacząłem grać lepiej, a ważnych chwilach prezentowałem najlepszy tenis. To dało mi zwycięstwo w drugim secie. A potem byłem w stanie iść dalej siłą rozpędu - dodał 19-latek z Sydney.

Aussie to face top seed Zverev in final
If #NextGenATP stars Alex de Minaur and Andrey Rublev, 19 and 20 years old, respectively, will be meeting for years to come, tennis fans around the world have plenty to be excited about.

De Minaur saved four consecutive match points from 2/6 in the second-set tie-break before ousting the Russian 5-7, 7-6(6), 6-4 on Saturday evening to advance to the Citi Open final.

"I'm incredibly proud of myself. I dug deep," De Minaur. "I just couldn't see myself going any further. But I kept pushing myself, kept trying every single point and managed to turn that around. That's probably the best win of my career."

The Aussie is into his first ATP World Tour 500-level final, after also reaching the championship match in Sydney in January. The teenager will try to clinch his maiden triumph on Sunday against top seed Alexander Zverev.


It has been an incredible climb for De Minaur in 2018, as the 5’11” right-hander began the campaign at No. 208 in the ATP Rankings. With his two-hour, 52-minute victory against Rublev, the Aussie is projected to crack the Top 50 for the first time. If he beats Zverev, he will soar to No. 33. If not, he will still make a 27-spot rise to No. 45. After this week, he has no points to defend until the end of October.

De Minaur showed shades of his mentor former World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt throughout the match. For much of the first two sets, Rublev was hammering away at hard-hit forehands, with his slowest shot being his second serve. But the Aussie hung in there with a relentless motor, scratching back ball after ball, biding his time until he could step in and, from time to time, rush the net.

The 19-year-old made especially good use of his backhand down the line in the second half of the match, as the effects of Rublev playing in his second match of the day slowly began to show. And while the Russian broke twice in the decider, it was De Minaur who came out on top, converting his fourth match point when his opponent double faulted.

"I really owe it all the crowd. I'm not from here, but I honestly felt like this was my home crowd," De Minaur said. "It was amazing. Every single corner I was in, they were in my ear encouraging me and firing me up. I really thank them."


Ironically, the only Australian to triumph in Washington, D.C. since 1972 (Tony Roche) was Hewitt in 2004. Earning his maiden title in Washington, D.C., would be even more special for De Minaur because of that.

"It would mean a lot. At least I could say I'm on the same page in one tournament with Lleyton," De Minaur said. "But tomorrow's going to be a very tough match against a very high-quality opponent and I'm just going to try and recover and leave it all out there again."

Although Rublev fell just short of reaching his first final at this level, he showed that despite competing in just his third tournament since a three-month hiatus due to a stress fracture in his lower back, his form has not gone away. Rublev was seeking his second ATP World Tour title, after claiming victory last year in Umag as a lucky loser.

Did You Know?
De Minaur playing Zverev will be the youngest final on the ATP World Tour since 2007 Indian Wells (Nadal vs. Djokovic) and the youngest final at the Citi Open since 1982 (Lendl vs. Arias).

Alex de Minaur awansował do finału rozgrywanego na kortach twardych turnieju ATP World Tour 500 w Waszyngtonie. W sobotnim półfinale Australijczyk obronił cztery meczbole i po trzysetowym boju pokonał Andrieja Rublowa.

Sobota była dla Andrieja Rublowa niezwykle intensywnym dniem. Najpierw, o godz. 12:00 lokalnego czasu, rozegrał przełożony z piątku ćwierćfinał turnieju ATP w Waszyngtonie z Denisem Kudlą, a o 19:00 ponownie pojawił się na korcie, tym razem, aby walczyć w 1/2 finału. Rywalem 20-letniego Rosjanina był inny wielki talent 19-letni Alex de Minaur, który odpoczywał od tenisa od czwartku.
Sobotni pojedynek był niezwykle zacięty. Obaj imponowali zaciekłością, walecznością, determinacją i wolą walki. Rozgrywali niesamowite wymiany, toczone w niebywałym tempie, a kolejne gemy były niezwykle długie i wyrównane.

Pierwszego seta 7:5 wygrał Rublow po tym, jak w 12. gemie odebrał podanie rywalowi. W drugim secie obaj nie dali się przełamać i o wszystkim decydować musiał tie break. W dodatkowej rozgrywce Rosjanin wyszedł na prowadzenie 6-2 i miał cztery piłki meczowe. W tym momencie zaczął jednak seriami popełniać błędy, zwłaszcza z bekhendu. Zmarnował wszystkie szanse na zakończenie pojedynku, następnie przegrał także dwa kolejne punkty i w efekcie całą drugą partię.

W trzeciej odsłonie sytuacja zmieniała się jak w kalejdoskopie. Rublow w trzecim gemie wywalczył przełamanie i wyszedł na prowadzenie 2:1, ale po chwili przegrywał już 2:4. Zdołał odrobić stratę i wyrównać na 4:4, ale w końcówce znów nie wytrzymał presji.

W dziesiątym gemie, przy podaniu Rosjanina, De Minaur wywalczył trzy meczbole. Nie wykorzystał ich, lecz następnie uzyskał też czwartą szansę, przy której pomógł mu przeciwnik. Rublow popełnił bowiem podwójny błąd serwisowy i w takich, zapewne niezwykle dla siebie bolesnych okolicznościach, przegrał ten niesamowity bój.

Mecz trwał dwie godziny i 53 minuty. W tym czasie De Minaur zaserwował 12 asów, trzykrotnie został przełamany, wykorzystał trzy z 14 break pointów, posłał 32 zagrania kończące, popełnił 37 niewymuszonych błędów i łącznie zdobył 119 punktów, o trzy mniej od przeciwnika. Rublowowi z kolei zapisano osiem asów, 33 uderzenia wygrywające oraz 44 pomyłki własne.

Wygrywając, 19-letni Australijczyk awansował do swojego drugiego w karierze, ale pierwszego rangi ATP World Tour 500, finału w głównym cyklu. W styczniu zagrał o tytuł imprezy "250" w Sydney, lecz przegrał z Daniłem Miedwiediewem.

W niedzielnym finale (początek o godz. 21:00 czasu polskiego) De Minaur zmierzy się z broniącym tytułu Alexandrem Zverevem. Będzie to drugi pojedynek pomiędzy tymi tenisistami. W lutym, w I rundzie Pucharu Davisa, przegrał z Niemcem w pięciu setach.

Citi Open, Waszyngton (USA)
ATP World Tour 500, kort twardy, pula nagród 1,890 mln dolarów
sobota, 4 sierpnia

półfinał gry pojedynczej:

Alex de Minaur (Australia) - Andriej Rublow (Rosja, 16) 5:7, 7:6(6), 6:4