It was third time lucky for Alex de Minaur at the Rotterdam Open after the Australian produced an emphatic performance to win the ATP 500 event.
De Minaur, who finished runner-up at the tournament in his two previous appearances, dropped only five games during his 77-minute 6-3, 6-2 triumph over world No.6 Auger-Aliassime. Throughout the final, the second seed didn’t face a break point, winning 76% of his first serves and 65% of his second serves. Despite hitting only 10 winners, De Minaur benefitted from his rivals’ 26 unforced errors.
Rotterdam is the first ATP indoor hard court tournament that the 26-year-old has won in his career. Although it is the fourth time he has won a 500 event after Acapulco in 2023 and 2024, as well as winning the Citi Open last year.
“That’s what it’s all about: just doing my best to rise to the occasion,” De Minaur told atptour.com. “As the tournament goes on, you try and find ways out of solutions and try to give yourself the best chance to play better the following day, and I did exactly that. I’m super pleased with the performance today.
“Third time lucky… I’m super stoked, super happy. It ended up being a great week here in Rotterdam. It’s a place where I always feel really good. I was just a step short in the previous years, so it feels great to finally be able to lift the title.”
De Minaur dropped only one set in five matches played en route to the title, which was in the quarter-finals against Botic van de Zandschulp. He also scored wins over Arthur Fils, Stan Wawrinka and Ugo Humbert. Auger-Aliassime is the second top-10 player he has beaten this season. The first was Alexander Bublik at the Australian Open.
“To my team, to the people here, third time lucky. We finally managed to get the title. To the people who aren’t here as well, it takes a village,” he said during the trophy presentation.
“But really… I’m glad I was finally able to get the title. It’s been one of my favourite spots on the calendar. I love coming back here to Rotterdam. I played some of my best tennis and I finally got the reward.”
It is only the second time an Australian player has won the Rotterdam Open, with the first being Lleyton Hewitt in 2004. Coincidentally, Hewitt also dropped just one set in five matches played.
De Minaur will rise two places to sixth in the ATP rankings on Monday.
