Alex de Minaur and John Millman have seen their hopes of a season-ending triumph dashed at the quarter-final stage of the Sofia Open.
De Minaur’s bid to win his first ATP Tour title of the year was ended by another of the bright new young stars of the game, Jannik Sinner, 6-7 (3-7) 6-4 6-1.
Millman, perhaps still feeling the effects of his marathon win over Gilles Simon in the previous round, then went down 6-3 6-2 to Canada’s Vasek Pospisil.
A year on from losing to the teenage Italian in the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan, the Australian No.1 De Minaur enjoyed a good start to take the first set but again ended up losing after two hours 11 minutes.
The 19-year-old Sinner, who has been one of the revelations in the men’s game since the Tour returned to action, proved resolute in the match’s biggest moments, saving six of the seven break points he faced.
“The key [in the big moments] is the balance on court, trying to understand how big I should go,” Sinner told the ATP website.
“The important points, when you serve, try to serve with the first serve in and maybe then it is a little bit easier to win the point.
“I was just focussing on that and trying to let him play in one corner, because he moves very fast… My tactic was to stay in one corner and try and play a little bit faster than him.”
The 21-year-old De Minaur, who has himself enjoyed an encouraging campaign in Europe with his European Open final appearance in Antwerp last month being the highlight, won a 58-minute opening set by reeling off the final four points in the tiebreak.
Yet Sinner, who made a huge breakthrough by reaching the quarter-finals of the French Open, earned the solitary break at 3-3 in the second set to level matters before overpowering De Minaur in the decider.
Sinner broke the world No.25’s serve three times in the final set, including a decisive final game which saw De Minaur broken to love as he finally capitulated with an errant forehand.
Millman, who has been in terrific form having won the Astana Open in Kazakhstan at the start of the month, lost in just 72 minutes to Pospisil, who also beat him in last year’s Davis Cup finals.
The Canadian, ranked was dominant with his first serve, dropping just four points throughout the match on that delivery while the Queenslander was broken four times in all.
Sinner will next play in the semi-finals against Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, who earlier beat Moldovan Radu Albot 62 16 63, while Pospisil will meet either Richard Gasquet or Salvatore Caruso, who were contesting the other quarter-final.
