De Minaur makes semis
TENNIS: Australian whiz-kid Alex de Minaur will go into the last four of the Next Gen ATP Finals undefeated after beating American Taylor Fritz.
De Minaur, the 21-and-under tournament’s youngest entrant, was due to face sixth-seeded Spaniard Jaume Munar this morning for a place in the final.
Second seed de Minaur was at his gritty best in saving five set points in a tie breaker and claim the opening set before running away with a 4-3 (10-8) 4-1 4-2 victory in Paris.
“I just had to dig deep,” the 19-year-old said after entering the semi-finals and dropping just one set along the way.
“I was down and out there and I managed to scrap my way with a couple of good returns and a couple of long rallies.”
He had already booked his semi spot on Thursday with a four-set win over 2017 runnerup Andrey Rublev, after thrashing Italian Liam Caruana.
De Minaur’s clean sweep of the round-robin stage has taken his season earnings past $US1 million ($A1.4 million), with a $US407,000 payday coming if he finishes the tournament unbeaten.