The Australian No.1 has found some hugely encouraging form with the Paris grand slam only three days away as he powered into the semi-final at the Hamburg Open on Thursday with an emphatic victory over one of the tour's form horses, Luciano Darderi.
Darderi reached the semi-finals at his home Italian Open last week and has moved up to a career-high ranking of No.16, but cut a frustrated figure as de Minaur ran him ragged, winning 6-0 6-3 at the Rothenbaum Stadium.
Darderi seemed distracted from the start, appearing to be unhappy with the court quality, but de Minaur was locked in as he 'bagelled' the Italian in the opening stanza, and reduced him to smashing his racquet into the clay when he failed to convert a break point in the second act.
But despite the scoreline, it wasn't exactly a cakewalk for the world No.9 as Darderi fought tigerishly when on the brink of defeat at 5-1 down in the second. Altogether, the Australian had to save 11 of 12 break points and had some difficulty subduing the Italian as he fought back to make it 5-3.
But after firing home his 31st winner at the end of an astonishing lung-busting 27-stroke rally at match point, 'Demon' sealed his victory in an hour and 34 minutes to set up a semi-final against American Tommy Paul, the world No.26, on Friday (Saturday AEST).
It had turned into a bit of a physical slog. "The last 20 or 30 minutes of this match, they couldn't have been any slower and any heavier," he reflected.
"It was very physical, very tough to get the ball past him and I thought he was able to use his strength to move the ball around a bit better. So it got quite tight at the end but overall, I'm very happy."
De Minaur's run after coming into Hamburg on a three-match losing streak is a real confidence-booster, as he closes in on his first clay-court final on Saturday.
On the flipside, he's had three draining contests already, and could have two more before having to jet straight off to Paris, where he'd have a short turnaround and preparation time before his first-round match against an as yet unnamed qualifier.
Friday's other semi-final in Hamburg will be between US lucky loser, world No.94 Aleksandar Kovacevic and top Peruvian, world No.57 Ignacio Buse, leaving de Minaur as the highest-ranked player left of the quartet by far and having comfortably his best chance of becoming a clay-court champ.
Earlier on Thursday in the Geneva Open, Alexei Popyrin's bid to make the semis was ended by Casper Ruud in a 6-4 6-3 defeat with the Norwegian homing in on a record-extending fourth title at the Swiss event.
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