Demon downed by demonic form of world No.1 in Finals
Alex De Minaur's brilliant tennis wasn't good enough to beat the world No.1 at the ATP Finals. -EPA
Alex de Minaur had vowed to do some damage at the ATP Finals but his promise came to little on the opening day of the end-of-season championships in Turin as Carlos Alcaraz proved the bulldozer of the Australian's dreams.
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De Minaur, in his second straight crack at the end-of-season championship featuring the world's best, looked good to his word when he had a chance to nick a marathon first set in the tiebreak on Sunday.
Yet once the world No.1 had edged into the lead, he then proved in a different league to the Aussie No.1 with his 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 triumph.
The bad news for de Minaur was that defeat has immediately put him on the backfoot to earn a place in the semi-finals.
The good news was that he played some brilliant tennis that could encourage him that he can still beat Lorenzo Musetti and Taylor Fritz, the other two players contending for the top-two spots in the Jimmy Connors Group, and qualify for the last-four.
Italian Musetti, who's been drafted in as a last-minute replacement for the injured Novak Djokovic, and American Fritz were meeting in the late game on Sunday at the Inalpi Arena.
"It was a very difficult match. Alex on this surface is really good - he makes the most of the speed of the court as he's super fast. So I'm really happy to get through this really difficult challenge and happy the way I played," said Alcaraz, who's determined to add the 'fifth' major to his extraordinary resume at 22.
