- Aussie star won in just 44 minutes at Monte Carlo Masters
- Blitzed Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov 6-0 6-0 on the clay
- Next plays Italian Lorenzo Musetti for a spot in the final
Ruthless Alex de Minaur has humbled Bulgarian star Grigor Dimitrov 6-0 6-0 to feast on the first ‘double bagel’ of his professional career while powering into the Monte Carlo Masters semi-final.
The Australian was in merciless mood against the out-of-sorts veteran, taking only 44 minutes to hand the world No.18 one of his most embarrassing defeats on the Monte Carlo Country Club’s main arena.
It was a real statement performance from 26-year-old de Minaur, as he reached the third clay-court semi-final of his career and demonstrated this is no longer a surface that befuddles him.
The win means de Minaur has a chance to make history overnight AEST. If he beats Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti in the semifinals, he will reach a career high ranking of fifth in the world – his previous watermark is sixth.
Asked if he realised he had achieved the first whitewash win of his pro career, de Minaur smiled: ‘I did know that – and I also know the only time I ever lost 6-0 6-0 myself was to Tommy Paul in the semi-finals of the US Juniors. It’s pretty crazy!’
A ‘double bagel’ is a rare feat at this level of tennis.
Indeed, it was the first such scoreline in any ATP tournament at the quarter-final stage and beyond for 12 years since the great Roger Federer blanked Mischa Zverev in the last-eight in Halle.
World No.10 de Minaur had expected a tough duel against the evergreen Dimitrov but after dominating the early stages, seemed to drain all the belief and confidence out of the 33-year-old and then never took his foot off the pedal as the Bulgarian just coughed up more unforced errors, 23 in all.
Ruthless Alex de Minaur (pictured) has humbled Bulgarian star Grigor Dimitrov 6-0 6-0 to feast on the first ‘double bagel’ of his professional career in Monte Carlo
The Australian was in merciless mood on the clay, taking only 44 minutes to hand the world No.18 (pictured) one of his most embarrassing career defeats at the Monte Carlo Country Club
After winning the first set 6-0 in just 23 minutes – the first time Dimitrov has failed to win a game in any stanza for nine years – de Minaur earned another break at the start of the second with a dazzling backhand lob that just continued the strangulation.
Getting only stronger and more aggressive as the one-sided match progressed, de Minaur dropped only 15 out of the 63 points played to become the first Australian since John Alexander in 1979 to make the semi-finals of the famous old tournament in the Principality.
He is also the first Aussie since Lleyton Hewitt in Hamburg in 2007 to reach a Masters 1000 clay-court semi-final as he chalked up a tour-leading 20th win of the season.
There was even better news for de Minaur as he pondered the chance of reaching his first clay-court final as he won’t be facing his nemesis Stefanos Tsitsipas in the last-four, with Italian Lorenzo Musetti causing an upset by defeating the Greek 1-6 6-3 6-4.
Tsitsipas, who had a woeful day with his serving, holds an 11-1 career record against de Minaur, but the Australian has a 1-1 record against the Wimbledon semi-finalist Musetti in what looks a difficult match to call as they prepare to meet for the first time on clay.
Earlier, the rare treat of two Australians making the semis of the same Masters event was dashed when Alexei Popyrin was soundly beaten 6-3 6-2 by Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in 69 minutes.
