Shanghai: Australia’s Alex de Minaur cruised through to the Shanghai Masters quarterfinals on Wednesday, ousting Portugal’s Nuno Borges 7-5, 6-2.
De Minaur is chasing his second title of the year and is, after Novak Djokovic, the highest-ranked player left standing after a string of high-profile exits.
The first set heated up when the world number seven needed five break points in the 11th game against Borges, converting the last with a backhand for a decisive advantage.
De Minaur carried the momentum into the second set, breaking in the first and third games.
“The first set was a very tight set, we both were kind of trying to figure each other out,” said the 26-year-old De Minaur.
“In the second set, I came out firing and I played some aggressive tennis... but still, it was very physical out there.”
De Minaur remained cautious about his title chances, despite the elimination of so many top seeds, including number two Jannik Sinner and third-ranked Alexander Zverev.
“In our side of the draw, there’s a lot of quality players, so it’s still going to be a battle,” he said.
De Minaur arrived in Shanghai off the back of a semifinal finish in Beijing. His latest run is further improving his ATP Finals qualification chances. The 10-time tour-level champion is seventh in the ATP Live Race To Turin, 740 points clear of 10th-placed Felix Auger-Aliassime, who is the first player outside the Top 8 cut due to ninth-placed Jack Draper being sidelined for the rest of the year with injury, ATP reports.
France’s Arthur Rinderknech reached his first Masters 1000 quarterfinal after beating Czech Jiri Lehecka 6-3, 7-6 (7/5).
Another top-10 player fell on Wednesday as Italy's Lorenzo Musetti lost to Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-4, 6-2.
Thirteenth-ranked Auger-Aliassime looked sharp throughout, breaking in the fifth game. He went on to dominate the second set, breaking Musetti, the world number nine, in the fifth and seventh games.
Rinderknech’s cousin Valentin Vacherot made it to the last eight on Tuesday, and will face Denmark’s Holger Rune on Thursday for a place in the semifinals. Djokovic will follow them onto court against Belgium’s Zizou Bergs for a place in the last four. Agencies
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