Alex de Minaur cops brutal setback at Los Cabos Open after surging to career-high

Alex de Minaur looked tired and bereft of ideas on Thursday after he was outplayed in a shock round one loss to American Alex Michelsen at Los Cabos. De Minaur was a finalist last year at the tournament and was ready to defend his point after a brilliant start to the tennis season.

The Aussie reached the Rotterdam Open final last week when he went down to Jannik Sinner in straight sets. Although the run saw him reach a career-high ranking of World No.9. However, he hasn't been able to sustain that level and could be set to drop out of the top 10 once again after a shock upset to Michelsen.

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The 19-year-old American made de Minaur play every agonising rally with the weary Australian off his game after a long-run of back-to-back appearances. De Minaur clawed his way back into the first set having been 2-5 down, but after breaking back the American was able to take the lead.

Michelsen then raced out to a lead in the second set and the World No.74 never looked back winning 6-4 6-1. De Minaur looks set for just another brief appearance in the top 10 rankings as he will most likely drop out of the illustrious group after the shock loss and dropping points in the round of 16.

Tennis fans have come to expect a consistently high standard from de Minaur on hard courts in the last year with the Aussie already claiming some big victories this year against Novak Djokovic, Taylor Fritz and Andrey Rulev. The 25-year-old's relentless efforts in the Rotterdam final could have left him drained, but fans couldn't believe his dip of form at Los Cabos.

After the contest, Michelsen admitted he played his best tennis to knock off the World No.9. "I think I played about as well as I could," Michelsen said after his first top 10 victory. "That's something to remember for sure."

Alex de Minaur all class after Rotterdam Open final

After reaching the Rotterdam Open final, de Minaur reached World No.9 ranking. He came up against an in-form Sinner and fell to 0-7 against the Italian in their head-to-head clashes.

Minaur was all praise for Sinner during the trophy presentation and even joked about how well the Italian is playing in 2024. "I asked him jokingly if he's going to lose a match this year," the runner-up said in the presentation. "He's playing an incredible level and just too good. I'll get you back next time."

His latest loss to Michelsen is his fourth of the year. Heading into the Australian Open he beat Djokovic and Alexander Zverev at the United Cup, before taking down Carlos Alcaraz in an exhibition match. Despite the loss to Andrey Rublev in the Australian Open fourth-round, he got revenge over the Russian in the quarter-finals at Rotterdam.

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