Lleyton Hewitt-coached Australian seeks maiden grass court final
Alex De Minaur, the no.2 seed, made it to his first ATP Tour semi-final in 10 tournaments courtesy of a jagged 6–4 6–4 victory over Vasek Pospisil.
The Spanish-based Australian, co-coached by compatriot and former tennis icon Lleyton Hewitt, made three breaks of serve to secure his place into the last four without really reaching top gear.
It proved to be a bit of a drab contest as neither player were commanding play, and there was a definite lack of fireworks on Centre Court.
Rising star De Minaur, who kicked off the season by winning on the Turkish hard courts at January’s Antalya Open in Turkey, is in a great position to add another rare ATP Tour title to his honours. His speed around the court and exceptional defensive strokes tend to trouble opponents, but these weapons were clearly absent against Canadian Pospisil.
Pospisil, a regular face at Eastbourne’s Wimbledon warm-up tournament, had not dropped a set until he met De Minaur. The second set was a close contest but Pospisil did not look sharp, which was not surprising as he skipped the clay court season to spend three months keeping fit rather than playing on the circuit.
It was an improved comeback to the Tour by the Bahamas-based ace, who narrowly lost in two tiebreaks on the German grass in Halle to American Marcos Giron. He will prepare for Wimbledon while the exciting talent of the fearless De Minaur gets ready for a shot at reaching his first ever ATP Tour level final on grass.
