Alex de Minaur’s bid to win his first ATP Tour title of the year has been ended by another of the bright new young stars of the game, Jannik Sinner, in the quarter-finals of the Sofia Open.
The Australian No.1 enjoyed a good start but ended up losing 6-7 (3-7) 6-4 6-1 to the 19-year-old Italian, who has been one of the revelations in the men’s game since the Tour returned to action.
The 21-year-old De Minaur, who has himself enjoyed an encouraging campaign in Europe with his European Open final appearance in Antwerp last month being the highlight, won a 58-minute opening set by reeling off the final four points in the tiebreak.
Yet Sinner, who made a huge breakthrough by reaching the quarter-finals of the French Open, earned the solitary break in the second set to level matters before completely taking command in the decider.
Sinner broke the world No.25’s serve three times in the final set, including a decisive final game which saw De Minaur broken to love.
Sinner completed his victory in two hours 13 minutes and will next play in the semi-finals against Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, who earlier beat Moldovan Radu Albot 62 16 63.
Australia still had a chance of being represented in the last four, with John Millman set to take on Canada’s Vasek Pospisil later on Thursday in another quarter-final.