De Minaur eases past Bublik to maintain perfect record at UTS London

Alex de Minaur maintained his perfect record at UTS London by Builder.ai as he beat Alexander Bublik 3-1 at the Copper Box on Saturday to finish the group stage with three wins out of three.

With De Minaur already qualified for the semi-finals – and with The Bublik Enemy already eliminated – there was little to play for but The Demon put on a show as he marched into the last four as the winner of Group B, high on confidence after a 20-9, 17-12, 13-14, 18-13 victory.

“He almost got me in the end, but very happy, we keep on going,” said De Minaur, who is through to his third straight UTS semi-final.

De Minaur turns on the style

Bublik won the first three points of the match but that was as good as it got for the Kazakh as De Minaur quickly took control, winning nine points in a row and dominating the first quarter so much that Bublik could only flip him the bird after one brilliant pass.

Bublik was breathing hard from midway through the quarter as De Minaur showed off his incredible speed to good effect, chasing down drop shots with ease. The Demon even found time to hit a backhand from outside of the court, below the net, for a winner, while whatever Bublik tried, he was equal to. De Minaur finished off the quarter 20-9.

“Fact is, it’s beginning of December, I’ve barely started hitting and he’s ready to win the Australian Open,” Bublik joked, asking if he could be given two serves instead of one.

Bublik snatches a quarter but de minaur too good

The request was not granted but Bublik at least hung in with De Minaur at the start of the second quarter, banging down one serve at 117mph.

But The Demon was in relentless mood, and even when Bublik came up with some vicious slices, asking a different question, he was equal to it, one no-look pass and another round the net shot the pick of a very impressive showreel.

De Minaur did not ease up one bit in the third quarter, wanting to get off court as quickly as possible to conserve energy for the semi-finals, and potentially final on Sunday. He even found time to hit an underarm serve, and win the point.

But a the Aussie played to the crowd a little, Bublik snuck back into the quarte. The pair had a race to hit the button for the bonus card (De Minaur won it) but at 13-13, on a deciding point, he banged down a big serve and played a feather-light backhand volley to force a fourth quarter.

That gave The Bublik Enemy a glimmer of hope but The Demon quickly snuffed it out, racing ahead 5-1 in the fourth quarter and despite a lot of fun, with Bublik at the heart of it, De Minaur finished off the match with a forehand winner. “Don’t move me,” Bublik yelled at one point.

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