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De Minaur through, Duckworth downed in Mexico

3 minute read

James Duckworth was a round-two casualty at the ATP Tour's 250 series event in Mexico, while fellow Australian Alex de Minaur eased into the quarter-finals.

ALEX DE MINAUR of Australia in action against Taylor Fritz of USA in the group stages during the Next Gen ATP Finals at Fiera Milano Rho in Milan, Italy.
ALEX DE MINAUR of Australia in action against Taylor Fritz of USA in the group stages during the Next Gen ATP Finals at Fiera Milano Rho in Milan, Italy. Picture: Julian Finney/Getty Images

Alex de Minaur has stormed into the quarter-finals of the ATP event in Los Cabos, Mexico, dropping just three games.

The fifth-seeded Australian needed just 63 minutes to see off Argentina's Thiago Agustin Tirante 6-2 6-1 on Wednesday, despite not sending down a single ace.

De Minaur set up a clash with American Tommy Paul, who enjoyed a 7-5 7-6 (9-7) victory over Felipe Alves of Brazil.

Paul improved to 5-1 on Mexican soil this year and is looking forward to facing the man he lost to in the Acapulco final in March.

"We'd rather play later in the tournament, but I'm up for it. It will be a really good match again," the 26-year-old third seed said.

De Minaur, the world No.19, broke in the fifth and seventh games to take the first set, before breaking three more times in the second to earn a convincing win.

His compatriot James Duckworth was a last-16 casualty though, going down to seventh seed Dominik Koepfer.

Duckworth, the world No.123, was comprehensively beaten 6-2 6-2 by the German in one hour 14 minutes of play.

Koepfer's opponent in the quarters will be Aleksandar Kovacevic of the US, who defeated the 2021 champion and second-seeded Brit Cameron Norrie 5-7 7-6 (9-7) 6-4.

Top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas was in blistering form in sealing his progress in the final contest of day five.

The world No.5 scored a 6-2 6-4 win over American veteran John Isner, the round-one conqueror of Australia's Rinky Hijikata.

Fourth seed Borna Coric of Croatia was a straight-sets winner, while Chile's sixth seed Nicolas Jarry and Belarusian Ilya Ivashka both triumphed in three.

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