ROTTERDAM/WASHINGTON, February 13, 2026 (by Michael Dickens)
Alex de Minaur has become a familiar Friday playing partner at the ABN-Amro Open in Rotterdam – just like Roger Federer was more than 20 years ago.
By reaching his fifth consecutive last eight of the ATP 500 indoor hard-court event at the Rotterdam Ahoy, the World No. 8 and this year’s top seed from Australia matched Federer’s record (set from 2002-05) after defeating another Swiss star, Stan Wawrinka, in the second round on Thursday.
Now, with an eye on the last four, de Minaur took on Dutch No. 2 Botic van de Zandschulp, who was playing in his first Rotterdam quarterfinal – and had nothing to lose. The Sydneysider looked to improve upon his 3-0 career head-to-head record against the 65th-ranked Dutchman and to advance to the Rotterdam semifinals for the third successive year – matching a long-standing tournament record. After posting a tour-leading 43 wins on hard courts last season, de Minaur had already won eight hard-courts matches to begin the 2026 season.
As it happened, Friday’s quarterfinal was anything but a walk in the park. However, De Minaur made it nine hard-court wins for 2026 and reached his third-straight Rotterdam semifinal – matching the mark set by Dutchman Tom Okker 50 years ago (1974-76) – after rallying to defeat van de Zandschulp, 3-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5, in two hours and 44 minutes of grueling tennis.
2 hours and 44 minutes of raw battle. Alex de Minaur comes back from behind against Botic van de Zandschulp to make the Rotterdam semifinals. Again.#abnamroopen #ontopoftennis #atptour #tennis pic.twitter.com/Bn5FD60uiK
— ABN AMRO Open (@abnamroopen) February 13, 2026
On Saturday, de Minaur (9-2) will face unseeded No. 36 Ugo Humbert (8-4) of France in the semifinal round with an eye toward reaching his third-straight final in the Dutch port city.
“In these conditions, [Botic] is such a tough opponent and makes it so difficult,” de Minaur said during his on-court interview. “I think we both kind of made each play badly, in a sense. Right? We both kind of made it tough for each other. We covered the court really well and … in these kinds of conditions, it’s hard to hit through the court you get some really long rallies and grueling exchanges. I’m happy I got through it. It wasn’t looking too good for about three-quarters of the match but I’m glad I managed to fight … It was another great mental effort.”
From 2-all in the opening set, van de Zandschulp strung together three straight winning games, which included a break of de Minaur in the sixth game, to take a 5-2 lead. He saved the only break point he faced and won all but one of his first-serve points (14 of 15) through his first four service games. Soon, van de Zandschulp put away the 35-minute first set 6-3 after winning a 12-shot rally on game point from 40-30.
Then, at 3-all in the second set, van de Zandschulp gained three break points during a 12-point seven game but de Minaur came through to save all of them – and survived – to hold for 4-3. Later, van de Zandschulp prevailed in a 12-point game to hold for 5-all, after de Minaur came to within two points of breaking and winning the set. Then, de Minaur gained a solid hold to assure himself of nothing worse than a tie-break but van de Zandschulp rose to the occasion and saved a break point. Then, he held serve with his eighth ace.
Don’t count out the Demon
The top seed fights from behind to reach a third successive semi in Rotterdam!#ABNAmroOpen pic.twitter.com/6HXvxqjZNv
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) February 13, 2026
Into the tie-break, de Minaur quickly jumped ahead 5-2 after winning a pair of points on van de Zandschulp’s serve, the second coming on his seventh double fault. Soon, it was 6-3 de Minaur with three set points for the Aussie to play with. Although van de Zandschulp saved the first one, de Minaur came through to win the tie-break 7-4 and the set, after his opponent netted a doable seventh-shot backhand.
As the match reached the hour and 45-minute mark, it was on to the decider. De Minaur wasted little time and broke van de Zandschulp for a 1-0 lead as the unforced errors began to pile up against the flustered and tiring Dutchman. De Minaur consolidated the break with his fourth ace out wide to lead 2-0 but was immediately broken at love during his next service game to level matters at 2-all. Soon, at 4-4 and on serve, van de Zandschulp held for a 5-4 lead after striking his 12th ace. But de Minaur wasn’t ready to give up. He held for 5-all after benefitting from a trio of unforced errors by van de Zandschulp.
Then, de Minaur converted his second break point of the match after van de Zandschulp swatted a forehand volley near the net long and wide. It gave de Minaur a 6-5 lead with a semifinal berth riding on his racquet. Not to be denied, he put away the quarterfinal victory on his second match-point opportunity after van de Zandschulp netted a fourth-shot backhand return.
Alex de Minaur comes out on top in a suspenseful roller coaster of a QF against crowd favorite Botic van de Zandschulp!
The top seed comes from behind to win after 2 hours and 44 minutes of breathtaking tennis: 3-6 7-6 7-5. pic.twitter.com/xgaq8R5xdB
— ABN AMRO Open (@abnamroopen) February 13, 2026
De Minaur persevered by overcoming 33 unforced errors and two breaks of his serve. He hit 15 winners and benefited from 60 unforced errors by van de Zandschulp.
So, just how did de Minaur manage to gut out such a hard-fought win?
“Just finding ways to adapt and accepting mistakes and accepting that you’re going to make a lot more errors than you would probably like to and just finding ways to hold your opponent in,” he said. … “At times, it was about me just finding better directions and waiting for the right one and committing to it.”
Humbert 10-0 in ATP Tour quarterfinals since 2024
Meanwhile, French No. 3 Ugo Humbert and 119th-ranked qualifier Christopher O’Connell of Australia began play on Centre Court in a battle of unseeded players – their third career head-to-head meeting, looking to split a 1-1 tie. By the end of their one-hour, 17-minute quarterfinal, it was all Humbert, who defeated O’Connell 6-4, 6-1.
The 36th-ranked Humbert has gone 10-0 in ATP Tour quarterfinals since losing to Casper Ruud two years ago at Monte-Carlo. Meanwhile, after defeating No. 26 Cameron Norrie in the second round, O’Connell looked to record multiple Top-50 wins in a single event for the first time in his career and to become the second lowest-ranked Rotterdam semifinalist this century. It wasn’t meant to be, though.
The first #ABNAmroOpen semi-finalist @HumbertUgo with a dominant display to take out O’Connell 6-4 6-1! pic.twitter.com/rMzjnE4dqN
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) February 13, 2026
From 4-all in the opening set, Humbert strung together seven straight games to not only win the first set but to also give him a comfortable double-break lead in the second before O’Connell saved two match points. However, the Frenchman’s outburst effectively put the quarterfinal out of reach – he secured the victory with a nifty backhand volley winner – and it advanced him into Saturday’s semifinal against de Minaur/van de Zandschulp winner.
Humbert dropped only one point on his first serve, winning 96 percent (25 of 26) of those points. He faced no break points and converted three of seven break-point chances against O’Connell. Humbert outpointed his opponent 61-38.
“I feel really good,” Humbert said during his on-court interview after improving to 8-4 this season. “I feel fresh and fit, better than last year. I like to play these kinds of matches, winning the quarters. Maybe I can play for the title. It’s really nice.”
Ugo Humbert hadn’t won an #abnamroopen match before this year. ️
Now he is our first semifinalist, after a clinical performance against Christopher O’Connell: 6-4 6-1.
The Frenchman plays the winner of the next match on CC: Alex de Minaur vs Botic van de Zandschulp. pic.twitter.com/AJf447yCDC
— ABN AMRO Open (@abnamroopen) February 13, 2026
Auger-Aliassime seeks to extend winning streak
World No. 6 and second seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada leads all players in indoor wins since the start of the 2022 season (92) and he’s advanced to the quarterfinals or better at nine of his last 10 tournaments – including his run to the semifinals at last year’s Nitto ATP Finals.
On Friday evening, the 2022 Rotterdam champion eased past Dutch No. 1 Tallon Griekspoor, 7-6 (2), 6-2, in one hour and 44 minutes to extend his winning streak to seven that began last week with his run to his second Montpellier title. He dropped just three points on his first serve and saved the only break point he faced.
Meanwhile, the 27th-ranked Griekspoor was stymied in his attempt to become the fourth Dutchman to reach three semifinals in Rotterdam event history after Paul Haarhuis (4), Richard Krajicek (3) and Tom Okker (3).
Felix in fine form! The Canadian was too good for Tallon Griekspoor tonight and joins the semifinal lineup: 7-6 6-2.
Jaume Munar or Alexander Bublik stands in between the No.2 seed and another #abnamroopen final. pic.twitter.com/ciUdqBpRiK
— ABN AMRO Open (@abnamroopen) February 13, 2026
Bublik chasing after 200th tour-level victory
World No. 10 and third seed Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan has been on a revenge tour this week in Rotterdam, after securing his first career victories over Hubert Hurkacz of Poland (1-6) and Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff (1-3).
Bublik faces 37th-ranked Spaniard Jaume Munar, who upset him in the first round of Wimbledon last year. Should he prevail, it would be Bublik’s 200th tour-level victory of his career. Meanwhile, Munar is bidding to advance to the semifinals of his third-consecutive ATP 500 indoor hard-court event after reaching the last four in Dallas and Basel last year.
Around the Rotterdam Ahoy
In doubles, No. 4 seeds Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori of Italy advanced to the semifinals with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Sander Gille of Belgium and Sem Verbeek of the Netherlands in 69 minutes on Centre Court Friday. The Italian duo converted three of five break points and outpointed their opponents 54-41.
In Saturday’s semifinal round, Bolelli and Vavassori will face Montpellier finalist Jakob Schnaitter and Mark Wallner of Germany. The other semifinal will match No. 1 seeds Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador and Mate Pavic of Croatia against Ray Ho of Taiwan and Hendrik Jebens of Germany.
Friday’s ABN-Amro Open results
Saturday’s ABN-Amro Open order of play
By the numbers
Ugo Humbert of France is 11-1 in his last 12 matches versus players who are ranked outside the Top 100. The lone loss was against Jenson Brooksby of the United States last year in the semifinal round at Eastbourne.
“Quotable …”
“I think over the years it’s changed. Every year I’ve come here it has been a bit different in terms of the playing conditions. A little bit slower, and the balls are a little bit different, so I think I’m just doing a good job at adapting. I don’t think there are too many players out here who are feeling really comfortable, so it’s all about just finding a way and that is where I thrive.”
– World No. 8 and top seed Alex de Minaur of Australia, during his on-court interview Thursday after defeating Stan Wawrinka in the second round, responding to why playing Rotterdam seems to bring out some of his best tennis.
