Alex De Minaur beat Nuno Borges 7-5 6-2 in 1 hour and 47 minutes in the fourth round of the Shanghai Rolex Masters to reach his seventh ATP Masters 1000 quarter final.
De Minaur recorded his 50th tour level win of the season. The Australian player is just the third man to reach the 50-win mark in 2025 after Carlos Alcaraz and Taylor Fritz. He achieved a Tour-leading 37 victories on hard courts.
De Minaur hit 19 winners to just 10 unforced errors and converted three of his twelve break points. He lost eleven points in ten service games and saved all three break points. Borges dropped 45% of his first serve points.
Both players held on serve in the first ten games. Borges squandered four game points and faced five break points. De Minaur converted his fifth break point to take a 6-5 lead and closed out the first set wih a hold at 15.
De Minaur earned two breaks in the first and third games to open up a 3-0 lead and saved three break points in the fourth game. Borges faced two match points as he was serving to stay in the match at 1-5. The Portuguese player saved them and held serve to extend the match. De Minaur held serve to 30 in the eighth game to secure his spot in the quarter final.
De Minaur will face either Danil Medvedev or Learner Tien in the quarter final.
De Minaur is seventh in the ATP Live Race to Turin with 3935 points. The Aussie player is 740 points clear of 10-placed Felix Auger Aliassime, who is the first player outside the top-8 cut, as ninth placed Jack Draper was sidelined for the rest of the year with injury.
He could move to 4735 points if he wins the Masters 1000 tournament in Shanghai. This would be enough to move to world number 4 and he could overtake both Shelton and Fritz, as long as Djokovic does not reach the final in Shanghai.
“For me it just shows consistency and that is what I am most proud of. Showing up every single week and it is an amazing number. I am hoping for many more to finish off the year and not stay at 50. It has been a successful trip to Asia so far. I told myself at the start of the week that it was all going to be a big mental effort to go out there and compete. I am happy to be in the quarter-finals and give myself another opportunity”, said De Minaur.
Arthur Rinderknech beat Jiri Lehecka 6-3 7-6 (7-5) to reach his first Masters 1000 quarter final. The Frenchman has joined his cousin Valentin Vacherot in in the quarter final. Vacherot beat Tallon Griekspoor 4-6 7-6 (7-1) 6-4 in the quarter final.
Rinderknech earned his first break in the eighth game and served out the opening set on his second set point. Lehecka saved two break points to hold serve in the first game. Both players held on serve en route to the tie-break. Rinderkech went up a mini-break to take a 5-3 lead. Lehecka pulled back on serve to draw level to 5-5. Rinderknech earned his second mini-break to close out the tie-break 7-5.
