Alex de Minaur may not score his performance in the Mubadala Citi DC Open Final A Perfect 10, but that will not take anything of the shine of the Scrappy Comeback that earned him his 10th title on Tour level on Sunday on dramatic fashion.
In a 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (3) victory against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, the Aussie saved three championship points on serve on 5-4 in the last set-but only after breaking of 30/0 when the Spaniard served for the title. The Minaur was 16 millimeters of the defeat at the third match point of his opponent, but a desperate lob cut the sidelines and helped him turn around the point and the game.
“It is something with this court. I did it to Rublev in 2018 and to be honest I just knew a bit that I could do it,” said the Aussie, those four match points to Andrey Rublev that year, but lost in the final of Alexander Zverev at the age of 19. “I supported myself and I just went a few of my way, so I am happy that it went my way.”
For Davidovich Fokina, who was looking for his first ATP tour title, it is a cruel blow after he missed two championship points in Delray Beach last February against Miomir Kecmanovic and the Acapulco final lost to Tomas Machac in March.
After a late night, three set of upset from Top seeds Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinals, the Spaniard repeated that magic almost in another three -hour fight against the Minaur. Instead, he buried his head in his towel after he had a painfully short in the final, with the Aussie coming over to comfort his fellow-26-year-old.
“You are way too good not to have one [trophies]. It will certainly come, “The Minaur told him during the trophy ceremony.” You earned it today. I’ve just been lucky. You are a great competitor, a great player. Nobody on the Tour wants to play. This is not the end, this only goes up for you. ”
The Minaur is now 3-2 in his Lexus ATP Head2head against Davidovich Fokina, with their first meeting in 2019 at the next genes of Gen ATP presented by PIF.
Behind his title run, the Minaur moved five places this week to no. 8 in the PIF ATP Live ranking and two places to be the eighth in the PIF ATP Live Race to Turin. Davidovich Fokina rose seven places in the live rankings to return to the top 20 at number 19, and also shot seven places until 11th in the race to Turin.
At first glance, the seventh seed could have been the minaur and the 12th seed Davidovich Fokina look like surprise finalists for men on the ATP 500. But their seasons on the ATP tour sketch a different image.
At the end of the event, both players lead the ATP tour in Hard-Court victories in 2025 and are in the top five in total match wins this season, the Minaur with 35 and Davidovich Fokina with 32. They are also two of only four players who played in multiple finals on the year, alongside Carlos Alcaraz and Andrey (2)..
Feel a presidential in Washington? ️@alexdeminaur Beadt three championship points on the way to claiming his 10th ATP Tour title and defeats Davidovich Fokina 7-5 1-6 7-6 (3)!@mubadalacitidc | #Mubadalacitidcopen pic.twitter.com/gp4v1ldaut
– ATP Tour (@atptour) July 28, 2025
The Minaur has attributed his mentality and mentality with his recent success: “I am very happy with where I am right now, how I have to deal with things on and next to the field,” he explained. “I had the mentality that even if it didn’t go my way today, it was a very positive week.
“So I was proud of my efforts, whatever happens, but Jeez feels good to hold my 10th title.”
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