Alex de Minaur emulates Pat Rafter despite crushing loss in Canadian Open final
The World No.18 became the first Aussie since Pat Rafter to achieve the feat.
Alex de Minaur has suffered a brutal defeat in an ATP final for the second week in a row after Italian tennis sensation Jannik Sinner outplayed the tenacious Aussie in the Canadian Open final. De Minaur shocked the tennis world when he defeated Daniil Medvedev and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina to reach his first ATP Masters 1000 final.
The World No.18 became the first Australian since Pat Rafter in 2001 to make the Canadian Open final. He was also looking to emulate Rafter's efforts of lifting the trophy, which the serve-and-volley king achieved in 1998.
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However De Minaur didn't have the firepower to stretch Sinner, who managed to take the final in straight sets. De Minaur was struggling to make inroads on his own racquet, having managed only six per cent of free points on his first serve against Sinner in the first set.
While De Minaur is known for his tenacious baseline defence, he couldn't match Sinner's firepower on the baseline. Sinner won an overwhelming 64 per cent of the points during the match to run away with the final 6-4 6-1 in a near flawless display to lift his first Canadian Open trophy.
Sinner's win marked his second title of 2023 and the eighth of his career. The 21-year-old's triumph also marked the biggest win of his career having achieved his first ATP Masters 1000 title.
Sinner will also rise to World No.6 after his win. The 21-year-old is the youngest Canadian ATP Masters champion since Alexander Zverev won as a 20-year-old in 2017.
Sinner is also only the second Italian to win at this level since 1990, joining the 2019 Monte Carlo champion Fabio Fognini. The loss comes as a huge blow to De Minaur, who lost in the final of the Los Cabos Open last week.
Regardless of the defeat, De Minuar will take some huge momentum into the US Open after his latest brilliant hard-court display. The Aussie's superb form will see him rise to World No.12, which is a career-high ranking.
Tennis world praises Alex de Minaur effort
Tennis fans were quick to laud Sinner's effort amid his maiden ATP Masters title, but also spared a thought for De Minaur with the Aussie having enjoyed two strong weeks on tour.
Italy's Jannik Sinner wins his first Masters 1000 title, defeating Australia's Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-1 in Toronto after losing two previous M1000 finals in Miami
Sinner, age 21, up to new career-high 6 in ATP rankings & will be a major threat at the #USOpen if he stays healthy pic.twitter.com/yHfPYP7An4— Christopher Clarey 🇺🇸 🇫🇷 🇪🇸 (@christophclarey) August 13, 2023
Jannik Sinner wins the biggest tournament of his career, a first masters 1000 title at the Canadian Masters!
He beat Alex De Minaur (who had a great one himself) 6-4, 6-1! Incredible performance and tournament! Goes up to World #6 #NBO23— Greg 🎾⚽️ (@GregCarterSport) August 13, 2023
It’s a first Masters 1000 title for Jannik Sinner in Toronto!
His speed of shot vs Alex de Minaur’s speed of foot made for a fun opening set in the final.
But the relentlessness and quality of Sinner was too much.
6-4, 6-1 to complete a brilliant week for the Italian.— The Tennis Podcast (@TennisPodcast) August 13, 2023
ATP 1000 TORONTO FINAL: Jannik Sinner wins 6-4, 6-1 against Alex De Minaur
De Minaur played well in the opening set, but the lack of a powerful serve really gets exposed against the top players.— Tennis Updates (@TennisUpdates23) August 13, 2023
Jannik Sinner beats Alex de Minaur and wins the biggest title of his career; 6-4, 6-1.
Even though he didn't stand much chance in the final, it was still a brilliant week for De Minaur, who is now up to career high ranking of #12.#NBO23— Toptennistweets (@Toptennis_tweet) August 13, 2023
Feel bad for Alex De Minaur, lost 2 finals in 3 weeks. Tsitsipas and Sinner.
Tough.— cPanel (@lekuche) August 13, 2023
Sinner's return of serve won him the title today, absolutely no free points off the serve for De Minaur
— Raghav (@raghavv_01) August 13, 2023
The World No.18 is set to rise to 12th in the world rankings next week, and could be set to enter the top 10 very soon. "Looking at the results, I'm pretty happy with where my level is at and how I'm continuously chipping away towards my goals," the 24-year-old said.
"Step by step, I feel like I'm getting better. I'm showing my level against top opponents, day in and day out.
"This week was a great week for me. I'm feeling confident. I'm going to be ranked 12 and I've still got plenty and plenty of areas to improve on. I think it's going to be the case my whole career but that's the beauty of it, so it's exciting for me."
The career-high mark of No.12 will be one spot higher than Nick Kyrgios' best of 13th in the world. De Minaur has been in red-hot form during the hard-court swing and made the final at the Los Cabos Open last week. He lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final, but his form leading into the US Open will be a massive boost for an Aussie contingent missing the injured Kyrgios.
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