De Minaur Plays To Win, Earns Milestone Victory In Shanghai

Alex de Minaur
Alex de Minaur (photo: Rolex Shanghai Masters)

SHANGHAI/WASHINGTON, October 8, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

Alex de Minaur knows that there’s plenty of tennis still to be played this week at the Rolex Shanghai Masters in China, the second-to-last ATP Masters 1000 event of the 2025 season.

However, after mastering 51st-ranked Nuno Borges of Portugal, 7-5, 6-2, in an hour and 47 minutes Wednesday afternoon to reach his seventh career ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinal, the Australian No. 1 showed he’s ready to raise his level if he needs to.

The 26-year-old, World No. 7 de Minaur earned his 50th tour-level victory of the season – just the third player on the ATP Tour after Carlos Alcaraz (67) and Taylor Fritz (50) to reach that plateau. It was also the Sydneysider’s tour-leading 37th triumph on hard courts and it prevented Borges from reaching his first ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinal.

“I’m pleased with my performance today and, hopefully, I can build on that,” de Minaur said during his post-match news conference, in which he hit 19 winners, won 79 percent (26 of 33) of his first serve points, saved all three break points he faced and converted three of 12 break-point opportunities. He outpointed Borges 82-58.

“So it was about figuring out what kind of patterns worked for me today,” added de Minaur, who benefited from 38 unforced errors by Borges. “I was able to get a crucial break at the end of the first set and serve it out.

“Then in the second set I came out firing. I played some aggressive tennis. I was able to play the style of tennis that I wanted to play. Managed to get a very good win in two sets, but still it was a very physical match out there.”

Through his first three matches – victories over Camilo Ugo Carabelli, Kamil Majchrzak and Borges – de Minaur is one of only two quarterfinalists yet to drop a set. It’s a statistic that pleases him.

“I think it definitely adds up in very tough conditions like we have this week to feel fresh,” de Minaur said. “To get less miles on the legs is always handy, especially when you’re coming into the crunch time of these big tournaments. So every little bit counts, and I’m excited to be in the quarterfinals again.”

In the quarterfinal round on Friday, de Minaur will face No. 16 seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia, who fought past No. 36 Learner Tien of the United States, 7-6 (6), 6-7 (1), 6-4, in two hours and 52 minutes Wednesday evening. Medvedev battled through leg cramps near the end of the second set that almost forced him to retire. However, he recovered well enough to come back in the final set and broke Tien to go ahead 5-4. Then, Medvedev served out the victory, his 33rd of the season, despite being outpointed 113-112 by Tien.

“Ultimately, you’re playing good opponents,” de Minaur admits. “You’re not going to win matches by just putting the ball on the court. You’re going to have to go out and earn it and play to win. And that’s what I’m going to try and do, and we’ll see what happens.”

Rinderknech keeps it all in the family

Arthur Rinderknech of France, who ousted World No. 3 Alexander Zverev of Germany a round earlier on Monday, built upon his upset and took out another Top-20 foe, World No. 19 Jiri Lehecka of Czechia, 6-3, 7-6 (5), in 91 minutes to advance to his first ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinal.

The 54th-ranked Rinderknech joined his cousin, 204th-ranked qualifier Valentin Vacherot of Monaco, who advanced to the last eight in Shanghai a day earlier. Following his win over Lehecka, Rinderknech wrote a message of support for his cousin, who is the first Monegasque player to reach an ATP Tour quarterfinal: “I follow you Val” with a heart emoji attached.

“Our family WhatsApp group is buzzing a lot the past few days,” Rinderknech told the ATP Tour website after his win. “I can’t complain, it’s great and it’s reuniting the family together, at least online, having some fun. Everybody’s watching each other. So it’s really cool.”

After splitting their two previous matches, Rinderknech strung together nine aces – 26 winners overall – and outpointed Lehecka 69-52. The Czech No. 1 had been on an 11-match winning streak against players ranked outside the Top 10. The loss prevented Lehecka from reaching his 22nd tour-level quarterfinal.

Next, Rinderknech will face World No. 13 Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada, who aced his way past World No. 9 Lorenzo Musetti of Italy, 6-4, 6-2, in an hour and 25 minutes, in their eighth career meeting. The victory, which the Canadian No. 1 wrapped up with a pair of solid service aces, advanced Auger-Aliassime into his first Shanghai quarterfinal. It leveled his head-to-head against Musetti at 4-all.

Auger-Aliassime, who improved to 37-19 this season, hit 24 winners to 17 unforced errors, saved all three break points he faced from Musetti and broke the Italian No. 2 three times in six chances. He outpointed Musetti 62-49.

“[That was] ’inspired Felix’ I guess,” Auger-Aliassime said during his on-court interview, in describing his performance. “I felt like I was playing fast, but I was seeing the game slow. It’s weird when you get these kinds of nights.

“I’ve been trying to work my way there obviously for a while now, working on this type of game plan,” he added, “but to execute it live on a match court at this stage against an opponent like this is a different story to practice. I’m very pleased, because to play like this means things are coming along nicely.”

Around the Qi Zhong Tennis Center

No. 1 doubles seeds Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador and Mate Pavic of Croatia defeated Austin Krajicek of the United States and Nikola Mektic of Croatia, Pavic’s former partner, 3-6, 6-4, 10-3, to advance to the semifinal round. Also advancing to the semifinals were Andre Goransson of Sweden and Alex Michelsen of the United States, who beat Germany’s Jakob Schnaitter and Mark Wallner, 6-1, 3-6, 10-6.

The other two doubles quarterfinal berths will be decided on Thursday. The opener will match No. 3 seeds Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz of Germany against Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico and David Pel of the Netherlands. Then, No. 2 seeds Harri Heliovaara of Finland and Henry Patten of Great Britain will face alternates Guido Andreozzi of Argentina and Manuel Guinard of France.

Wednesday’s Shanghai Masters results

Thursday’s Shanghai Masters order of play

By the numbers

Alex de Minaur leads the ATP Tour in hard court wins this season with 37, and is the third man to record 50 wins this season, after Carlos Alcaraz (67) and Taylor Fritz (50).

“Quotable …”

“We’ve enjoyed China very much. [Katie and I] been able to go out and explore and do a lot of different things. It’s been great. 

“I’ve really enjoyed my time in Beijing. I was able to go and explore a little bit of the city, which I hadn’t done. I still wasn’t able to get to see the Great Wall, which is definitely on the bucket list. 

“Here in Shanghai, we went and had some great dinners, had some great coffees. We’ve been exploring. It’s been a wonderful city, and I definitely felt some amazing support from the fans.”

– Alex de Minaur of Australia, during his post-match news conference Wednesday, on sight-seeing in China with his fiancée, professional tennis player Katie Boulter of Great Britain.

 

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