Toronto (Canada) (AFP) – Alex de Minaur pushed his ATP winning streak to seven matches as he fended off Frances Tiafoe 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 on Sunday to reach the quarter-finals of the ATP Toronto Masters. The Australian won the Washington title on Sunday before plunging into the chaotic schedule in Toronto, where play began on the weekend and will continue through Thursday.
The ninth seed will play the winner of Sunday night’s match between Italian Flavio Cobolli and US fourth seed Ben Shelton for a place in the semi-finals. De Minaur added his voice to the growing chorus of player complaints about the new 12-day Masters calendar, which will see play start in Cincinnati this week before Canada completes its unorthodox Thursday night final.
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The Australian said he wasn’t helped by a third-round walkover — which gave him three straight days off in the middle of the tournament. “I didn’t enjoy having so much time. The body is used to going and going (during tournaments),” he said after ousting Tiafoe in just under two and a half hours. “It was almost like it switched off, I had to focus to switch it back on. I had to tell myself I was still playing a tournament – still competing. I’m proud of the effort today.”
De Minaur has now beaten Tiafoe in three of four meetings. He profited from nearly 50 unforced errors off the American’s racquet while overcoming a serving slump in the second set and early into the third. “It was never gonna be easy, he’s got the ability to switch it on whenever he wants. It was tricky to put him away,” De Minaur said, adding that the hot, windy conditions made it even trickier. “I was just happy to sneak away with this win,” he said after booking a seventh quarter-final of the season.
Sixth seed Andrey Rublev, runner-up last year when the tournament was held in Montreal, reached his 14th Masters quarter-final 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/2), 3-0 when Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina was forced to retire with possible cramping. Both men ended the battle with 37 unforced errors, with Rublev to play either Jiri Lehecka or second seed Taylor Fritz for a semi-final spot.
Davidovich Fokina was coming off a runner-up finish in Washington, where he failed to convert three match points in the final. “It’s not the way I wanted to finish, but we did play for two and a half hours – I’ve had enough tennis for today,” Rublev said. “I just want to rest, recover and get ready for the next match.” The sixth seed admitted to frustration after dropping the opening set. “I was not able to make some opportunities, I was trying things that were not working and I got frustrated. But I told myself to try and arrive at the (second set) tiebreaker, you never know what can happen. In the third set, he was already not moving.”
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