Alex de Minaur is into his 10th ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final after defeating Karen Khachanov in Shanghai.
Currently fighting for a place at the ATP Finals in Turin next month, De Minaur won 6-3, 6-4 against Khachanov in the last 16 of the Shanghai Masters. He will now meet the winner of the encounter between Alexander Zverev and Alexander Bublik.
Ahead of that meeting, De Minaur has issued an injury update, having entered Shanghai immediately after retiring hurt during his China Open final with Novak Djokovic. He was trailing the Serbian 6-7(3-7), 1-0 at the time of the retirement in Beijing.
Alex de Minaur feeling ‘better and better’ as Shanghai Masters progresses
Speaking to the media in Shanghai, he was asked to describe his confidence in his movement right now amid his groin injury. De Minaur responded: “Yeah, it’s been feeling better and better every single day. It’s been seven to eight days since that match, and there’s been a lot of focus on the recovery aspect of it.
“I’ve been doing everything in my power to feel better each and every day. Today was by far the best day. I had to complement that with some great tennis and great serving and some smart kind of tactics. All in all, I thought it was a very clean match, which I’m very happy with.”
And discussing his down-the-line backhand winners and other areas he was happy with in the win against Khachanov, he said: “Yeah, exactly. I mean, in the first set I hit a big one to break. Then there were a couple big ones throughout the match where I just backed myself, and I’m glad that I did that because if I let him dictate, he’s so dangerous. It was kind of up to me to try and do my best to be the first one to get him moving, and then play the point out from there.”
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Alex de Minaur previews possible Alexander Zverev clash
There is very little time to celebrate his latest success amid the busy week at the Shanghai Masters, with another very tough test up next. That will arrive against either top seed Zverev or 19th seed Bublik.
Previewing both, he said: “Well, Zverev, number one player in the world. He has played incredible this whole year, immense amount of confidence, the most in-form player, for sure. Bublik, he’s got the ability to beat anyone on any given day. I’m excited to watch that match and see what happens.”
De Minaur has a 4-8 record against Zverev, and a 4-2 record against Bublik. The Australian, who beat qualifier Rei Sakamoto in his opening match, could then meet one of Arthur Gea, Jakub Mensik, Hubert Hurkacz or Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the semifinals. The likes of Casper Ruud, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Daniil Medvedev then represent possible final opponents.