Australia’s Alex de Minaur eased into the Rotterdam Open final on Saturday, bringing to an end the extraordinary giant-killing run of Italian qualifier Mattia Bellucci with an entertaining straight-sets win.
De Minaur was too consistent for the error-prone Bellucci, who was unable to repeat his earlier heroics against Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas, going down 6-1, 6-2.
The Australian will face the winner of tonight’s semifinal between top seeded Carlos Alcaraz from Spain and Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz.
“I’m very happy with the level today,” said De Minaur.
“He’s been playing with a lot of confidence this whole week, so I knew it was going to be a very tough battle,” added the third-seeded Australian.
Bellucci was playing his first ATP 500 semifinal but showed few nerves at the start, delighting the crowd with a trick shot winner through his legs in the very first game.
But a missed smash, an unforced error, and a double-fault gifted De Minaur an early break, and the Australian raced into a 3-0 first set lead.
A second break followed, as De Minaur’s trademark retrieving wore down the Italian. The Australian clinched the set 6-1 with a powerful forehand winner.
De Minaur also broke early in the second set, as Bellucci drifted yet another forehand wide.
Bellucci managed to hold serve at 5-2 but De Minaur wasted little time wrapping up the match, the Italian sending a backhand groundstroke long, his 30th unforced error.
Runner-up last year to world No 1 Jannik Sinner, De Minaur has enjoyed comfortable passage to the final, winning all his matches in straight sets.
“The Dutch crowd always treats me very well, and I love coming back here. So hopefully I can get a title this time,” he said.
