De Minaur gains revenge over Rublev to make Rotterdam semis

Australian Alex De Minaur gained a small measure of revenge for his defeat by Andrey Rublev at the Australian Open as he beat the Russian 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-3 to move into the semi-finals of the Rotterdam Open at the Rotterdam Ahoy on Friday.

Fifth seed De Minaur, ranked No 11, will face Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, the No 6 seed, next.

“I kept telling myself to be brave and go after it, because ultimately I can’t just run around against Andrey,” De Minaur said on court. “He’s got too much power, too many weapons, and he’ll just dictate me from one side to the other.

“If I want to be effective against Andrey, I’ve got to back myself, I’ve got to try to be aggressive and hit the ball flatter and bigger than I normally do. In big moments, I played great, and it got me the win today.”

Ahead of his victory, the Australian won against American Sebastian Korda (6-4, 6-3) and Belgian qualifier David Goffin (6-3, 6-1).

Rublev, ranked No 5, won against Belgian qualifier Zizou Bergs (7-5, 6-3) and edged out Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime (3-6, 7-6 (6), 7-5) earlier in the tournament.

Rotterdam ATP 500, other last 8 results (Rotterdam Ahoy, hard, EUR 2.134.985, most recent results first):

• Jannik Sinner vs. Milos Raonic
• Tallon Griekspoor vs. Emil Ruusuvuori
• Grigor Dimitrov beat Alexander Shevchenko: 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-4