Hugo Gaston defeats Alex De Minaur, reaches Antwerp SFs | ATP Tour

Antwerp

Inspired Gaston beats De Minaur for maiden Top 10 win, reaches Antwerp SFs

Bautista Agut sinks Auger-Aliassime at Belgian ATP 250

October 18, 2024

Hugo Gaston produced more than just a box of tricks on Friday at the European Open in Antwerp.

The Frenchman dug deep to overcome one of the ATP Tour’s most renowned battlers, Alex de Minaur, and reach the semi-finals at the ATP 250. Gaston did not earn a break point between the fourth game of the opening set and the final game of the match, but he found a late charge on return to seal a 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 victory.

First Top 10 win! 👏

Gaston fights past de Minaur 6-3 3-3 7-5 to reach the SF in Antwerp!@EuroTennisOpen | #EuropeanOpen pic.twitter.com/aOYdwgyUxO

— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 18, 2024

“It was really close. Alex is such a great player, playing unbelievable tennis this year and in the past few years,” said Gaston after notching his first win in five attempts against an opponent from the Top 10 of the PIF ATP Rankings. “When you play against Alex, you have to be ready to play a lot of rallies. I have a little bit of pain in my body, but I tried to stay focused on the game and on my shots, and it was a good one today.”

Although his ability to go toe-to-toe with De Minaur in extended rallies was the key to his quarter-final win, Gaston nonetheless found time to sprinkle some of his trademark creative magic on Friday’s encounter. The best example of that came in the sixth game of the match, when he produced an outrageous no-look overhead from behind the baseline.

Gaston won 85 per cent (17/20) of points at the net against De Minaur, according to Infosys ATP Stats, en route to reaching his third ATP Tour semi-final. He now leads the Australian 2-0 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series, after he also prevailed in the pair’s clash at Roland Garros in 2022.

Standing in Gaston’s way of a spot in his third tour-level championship match will be Roberto Bautista Agut. The Spaniard earlier upset third seed Felix Auger-Aliassime 3-6, 6-2, 7-6(6) to reach his first ATP Tour semi-final since June 2023.

Quarter-final defeat in his first tournament since the US Open was a blow to De Minaur’s hopes of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time. The 25-year-old is ninth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, 275 points behind eighth-placed Andrey Rublev.