The Aussies were up against it when Alex de Minaur stepped onto the court, but the 22-year-old didn’t let that faze him.
Australia’s Alex de Minaur has bounced back from a disjointed 2021 and thrown the gauntlet down ahead of the Australian Open by stunning World No. 7 Matteo Berrettini of Italy in straight sets, 6-3, 7-6, at Sydney’s ATP Cup.
The win at de Minaur’s spiritual home of Ken Rosewall Arena inspired Australia to a stunning 2-1 Group B tie victory over the Italians, who are among the favourites to take out the entire tournament.
Before a ball had even been served, the Aussies were up against it.
Just hours from Australia’s first match of the team tournament that kicks off the men’s calendar, James Duckworth was ruled out with a hip injury.
The 11th hour blow left World No. 176 Max Purcell at the mercy of the highly-fancied Italian youngster Jannik Sinner, who slaughtered him in straight sets.
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De Minaur (World No. 34) was left with all of the pressure on his shoulders and none of the tipsters on his side as the Aussies hoped to keep in touch with a best-of-three victory.
To win would’ve been to equal the biggest victory of his career on ranking, and not only that, he was going to have to do it against last year’s Wimbledon finalist, who polished off the likes of Dominic Thiem, Gael Monfils and Roberto Bautista Agut en route to last year’s ATP Cup final.
So when the hometown hero opened up a comfortable lead in the first set, the Sydney spectators were understandably excited.
They erupted when he took out the first set, 6-3, as a just reward for keeping his foot on the accelerator for the duration of play to that point.
The second set seemed destined for a tie-break from the get-go, with each man taking turns to strike at the other.
With each game he claimed, de Minaur was no less exultant in his celebrations than a young Lleyton Hewitt, who sat metres away as the Aussie team’s captain on Sunday night.
More than one foot fault left the Italian rattled, before the match progressed into the second set tie-breaker it so richly deserved.
The 22-year-old Sydneysider sent a ripple through the tennis world by taking out the tiebreaker 7-4, and thus, the match.
“I think it’s no secret that this court brings out the best in me. There’s no place like playing at home and in front of a packed crowd, which is just amazing,” a visibly emotional de Minaur said afterwards.
De Minaur endured his share of setbacks last year, the most notable of which was a bout of coronavirus that forced him out of the Tokyo Games.
But the Aussie appeared confident he had put the Olympic heartbreak behind him.
“It’s not about how many times you get knocked down … it’s about how many times you get knocked down and get back up again,” he said.
“I’m in the best shape of my life and I’m ready to have a big year.”
Perhaps spurred on by their countryman’s heroics, Aussies Luke Saville and John Peers sealed the tie victory by dusting off Italy’s Simone Bolelli and Berrettini in the doubles match.
Berrettini was a late inclusion in place of Fabio Fognini, who was subbed out for tactical reasons.
After dominating the first set, the two Aussies found their momentum slipping in the second before edging their rivals out in a tie-break to claim victory in straight sets, 6-3, 7-5.
It was de Minaur who was the man of the hour, though.
Ugo’s huge upset
Daniil Medvedev’s hopes of avenging last year’s Australian Open heartbreak hit a snag on Day Two of the ATP Cup when he was ambushed in a three-set thriller by a man who wasn’t even on the draw last week.
After the withdrawal of Novak Djokovic, World No. 2 Medvedev loomed as the biggest star to be gracing the Sydney tournament this year, but in his first match, he was brought crashing back to earth by French World No. 35 Ugo Humbert, 7-6, 5-7, 6-7.
It took Austria dropping out of the ATP Cup in the days before the new year for France to be included in the tournament and as the top-seeded member of the team, Humbert faced the almighty task of battling it out with the second-best men’s player in the world.
He might’ve beaten Medvedev in the pair’s only other previous meeting but not many gave the 23-year-old a chance this time around, especially given Medvedev led Russia to victory in the 2021 ATP Cup and went 10-0 in team events overall last year.
Humbert lost the first set in a tie-breaker but clawed his way back from three games down in the second to take his highly-fancied rival to a third set.
There was no less tension in the final set, which also went to a tie-break.
Mustering whatever strength he had left after almost three hours of play, Humbert did the unthinkable and polished off the 2021 US Open champion 7-2 in the tie-break to send shockwaves through the tennis community.
It was the biggest win of the Frenchman’s professional career to date.
In the first of the earlier match-ups, Russia’s Roman Safiullin (World No. 167) caused a major upset of his own by defeating Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech (No. 58) from a set down.
Medvedev’s loss consigned Russia to a decisive doubles match against the French, but the World No. 2 combined with Safiullin to avoid what would have been a staggering best of three upset.
Russia defeated France 6-4, 6-4 to claim outright victory 2-1.
North American showdown
Two traditional rivals went head-to-head at the ATP Cup on Sunday but a hilarious moment before the second of Canada’s clashes with the USA certainly helped break the tension.
Just hours before play began, Canadian left-hander Denis Shapovalov withdrew from his team’s first singles match of the day, citing fatigue following his time in isolation with Covid-19.
The World No. 14 tested positive on arrival in Sydney and while he has since been released from biosecurity protocols, opted to sit the match out.
“I’m disappointed not to be able to play the first match, but I just didn’t feel ready physically yet, so we did what is best for the team,” he said.
The 11th hour withdrawal pushed World No. 238 Brayden Schnur into the limelight, where American World No. 24 John Isner took just over an hour to steamroll him in straight sets.
The second clash, contested by World No. 11 Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime and America’s Taylor Fritz (No. 23) got off to an inauspicious start.
As is customary, the pair posed either side of the net for a picture before the match.
However, no photographer turned up to capture the top-seeded players from the rival nations, leaving the players smiling into the abyss.
“There’s no photographer, you can leave,” said a match official, realising the error.
The players then dispersed for what began as a tightly-fought contest.
Fritz ultimately defeated his opponent to ensure the USA would clinch victory over Canada with a match in hand.
As the Aussies grappled with Italy at Ken Rosewall Arena, The United Kingdom and Germany jousted up the road at Qudos Bank Arena.
The British claimed the first match comfortably, with Daniel Evans (World No. 25) holding Jan-Lennard Struff (No. 51) at arm’s length for the entirety of the 6-1, 6-2 thrashing.
All eyes turned to the big ticket battle between Germany’s Alexander Zverev (World No. 3) and Cameron Norries (No. 12) afterwards.
Zverev dished out similar punishment to Evans by accounting for Norries in straight sets, 7-6, 6-1, and setting up a decisive doubles showdown.
There, Jamie Murray and Evans, subbed in for Joe Salisbury, needed only two sets to defeat the Germans in the match and claim the Group C tie.
Originally published as ATP Cup Day Two: Alex de Minaur pulls off almighty upset over last year’s Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini
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