The top two seeds in this week’s Australian Open wildcard play-off tournament will battle it out in the final for a place in the main draw of the first grand slam of 2018.
Second seed Alex de Minaur overcame a slow start to see off former US Open boys champion Omar Jasika 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-0. The world No.210 was down a set and a break before he managed top turned things around in his favour. Much to the frustration of his opponent, who recieved a code violation for hitting a ball out of the court.
“I started to be more aggressive,” de Minaur told The Herald Sun.
“I let him push me around the court a bit and I wasn’t doing enough to get back into the points.
“I started to stand my ground on the baseline and hit a bit bigger off my backhand to his forehand to open him up over there because is backhand is so solid.
“I stayed composed and found a win to get my level back, which was good.”
18-year-old de Minaur is bidding to reach the main draw of the Australian Open for the second consecutive year. It was at this year’s tournament where he won his first grand slam main draw match after defeating Gerald Melzer in the first round. The prospect of returning to the Melbourne major in one he describes as his ‘ultimate goal.’
“There’d be no better feeling than to win the wildcard,” he said.
“At the end of the day, if you win that (final), you deserve the wildcard.
“That’s the ultimate goal in the next match.”
Top seed Alex Bolt will be awaiting the teenager in the final. Bolt, who is currently ranked 190th in the world, held his nerve to overcome Marc Polmans 7-6(7-3), 6-4, 7-6(7-4). The 24-year-old has enjoyed most of his success in the doubles this year. Claiming three Challenger and two Futures titles.
“We kept our level pretty high the whole match. I had to play my best tennis to win,” said Bolt.
“Right now, I’m feeling pretty good about myself.”
Bolt is targeting a place in the main draw of a grand slam for only the second time in his career. At the start of the year he came through three rounds of qualifying before losing to Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka in the first round at the Australian Open.
Earlier this year, Bolt defeated de Minaur in three sets at a Challenger event in Launceston, Australia.
The final will take place on Sunday.
