Alex de Minaur is having a barnstorming year, and this weekend could end up being a double coronation because his girlfriend is competing in the San Diego Open final.
De Minaur successfully retrained this Mexican Open title in Acapulco, beating the likes of Stefanos Tsitsipas (his first-ever win over the Greek on the ATP Tour), Jack Draper (earned a retirement win), and two-time French Open runner-up Casper Ruud in the final.
It was a fantastic achievement for the man with the most absurd monicker - the Demon. The 25-year-old bounced back superbly from last week's underwhelming performance in Los Cabos, where he won just five games in a second-round defeat to 19-year-old Alex Michelsen.
Reaching the Acapulco final meant that de Minaur only needed to beat Ruud to secure his Top 10 place for at least another fortnight, which he did. This was de Minaur's second final of the season (he lost to Jannik Sinner in Rotterdam), but he ensured he did not finish on the losing side as he produced a gutsy display to win 6-4, 6-4.
But the Aussie will not hang around Acapulco and celebrate his win, partly because it is unsafe for tennis players to go outside the confines of the tennis tournament due to increased crime cases in the state of Guerrero. ATP players and staff were warned before traveling.
Additionally, de Minaur has an early 6 a.m. flight to catch to the United States and watch his girlfriend, Katie Boulter, in action. The British WTA No. 1 is playing in her biggest final on Sunday in San Diego, where she will face Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk. The San Diego Open final will take place on Sunday at 4 p.m. local time.
"I can't make the party tonight because I have a 6 am flight to catch as I want to watch Katie (Boulter) play the final in San Diego tomorrow."
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