Alex de Minaur in 18-year first for Australian tennis amid double triumph with Katie Boulter

Alex de Minaur is set to become the highest ranked Australian men's tennis player in 18 years after claiming his second title of the year at the Libema Open in the Netherlands. The Aussie's 6-2 6-4 win over Sebastian Korda in the final came on the same day his girlfriend Katie Boulter retained her Nottingham Open crown with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Czech Karolina Pliskova in the grass court final.

It's the second time this year that De Minaur and Boulter have both won titles on the same day. The Aussie famously flew out to watch his girlfriend claim the San Diego Open title in March, hours after beating Casper Ruud in the final of the Mexican Open. De Minaur's latest win at Rosmalen in the Netherlands was the 25-year-old's ninth ATP Tour title.

The Aussie is now set to rise to a career-high ranking of No.7 in the world, making him the highest-ranked Aussie men's player since two-time major winner Lleyton Hewitt in 2006. De Minaur's second title of an outstanding 2024 came without dropping a set in the Netherlands and his confidence will be sky-high in the lead-up to Wimbledon, which gets underway on July 1.

"It achieves a new career-high for me, so that's always a great little bonus," De Minaur said in his on-court interview. "My first week on grass couldn't have gone any better, so I'm looking forward to next week at Queen's and the whole grass-court season with a smile on my face. I'm glad I was able to get a win here in Holland."

De Minaur mixed some typically brilliant defensive play with precision counterpunching against Korda to nullify the American's power game. The Aussie reeled off six straight games from 2-2 to seize control of the opening set and ultimately, the match. De Minaur broke his opponent's serve three times in the second set before wrapping up victory.

"Obviously it was a great match. Tricky conditions, and Seb is a hell of a player," said De Minaur. "I'm looking forward to playing doubles with him next week at Queen's. I'm super happy with the week. It's been great. Happy days." De Minaur was runner-up to Carlos Alcarez last year at Queen's, which is the traditional lead-in to Wimbledon. He also reached the French Open quarter-finals for the first time this year before losing in straight sets to Alexander Zverev.

De Minaur converted five of 14 break points he earned in the final and has improved his record to 33-11 for the year. Having also defended his title at the ATP 500 in Acapulco in February, this year marks the third time De Minaur won multiple tour-level crowns in one season.

Katie Boulter retains Nottingham title after 'brutal' drama

De Minaur's girlfriend, Boulter, capped off a superb day for the glamour couple of tennis, by beating Pliskova to retain her title in front of her home fans at the Nottingham Open. The British fan favourite described it as 'brutal' after having to play her weather delayed semi-final against compatriot Emma Raducanu on the same day as the Nottingham final against Pliskova. And after downing Raducanu, she was forced to come from a set down against Pliskova before storming home to claim the next two sets.

Boulter even joked afterwards that her boyfriend had not made the effort to make the short flight from the Netherlands to the UK to cheer her on. "My boyfriend didn't make the trip even though I thought he might after his win in 's-Hertogenbosch but yeah we'll have to be talking about that tonight and see if we're going to be still together," Boulter said tongue-in-cheek. "I don't know, but I hope he's going to be listening to this because we've got some talking to do!"

Boulter surged into a 4-2 lead in the final but Pliskova reeled off four successive games to claim the opening set. The Brit bounced back by claiming an early break in the second set and didn't let it slip to level the match at a set apiece. Boulter then carried that momentum into the deciding set, breaking Pliskova twice to secure a second straight Nottingham title.

"Today was brutal," Boulter said after playing two matches in one day. "It is incredible to be here, it's got a special place in my heart, it always will do. It's been an incredible week for me, mentally tough after a really hard clay-court season."

with agencies