ATP roundup: Carlos Alcaraz, Alex de Minaur in Rotterdam final
February 9 - Top seed Carlos Alcaraz of Spain and No 3 seed Alex de Minaur of Australia will duel in the ABN Amro Open final on Sunday after both posted semifinal victories on Saturday in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Alcaraz, ranked No. 3 in the world, needed three sets to take out No. 8 seed Hubert Hurkacz of Poland 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3, and reach his first indoor final.
World No. 8 de Minaur had a much easier time reaching the final, sweeping Italian qualifier Mattia Bellucci 6-1, 6-2 in a one-hour, seven-minute match.
Against Hurkacz, Alcaraz found himself down triple break point in the first set, but he turned it around and won the next five games to take the set. He dropped the second set before winning 12 of the first 13 points of the third set to go up 3-0 en route to victory in two hours, 21 minutes.
Alcaraz finished with 39 winners and 32 unforced errors, while Hurkacz had 33 and 31, respectively. Hurkacz had 10 aces to five for Alcaraz, who committed four double faults to just one for his opponent.
de Minaur converted all four break points he faced, breaking Bellucci twice in each set while winning 78 percent (14 of 18) of his first-serve points. Bellucci was in his first ATP semifinal after upsetting No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia and No. 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece.
Dallas Open
No. 2 seed Casper Ruud of Norway will take on unseeded Denis Shapovalov of Canada in the final on Sunday after both notched semifinal victories.
Ruud, ranked No. 5 in the world, defeated Spain's Jaume Munar 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (4), while Shapovalov knocked off No. 3 seed Tommy Paul of the U.S. in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3.
Munar had a chance to close out the match in the 10th game of the final set, but Ruud broke back to pull even at 5-5 before the set went to a tiebreaker. Ruud went up 4-2 and never looked back, closing it out by breaking Munar one more time.
Paul had a chance to pull even in the first set down 6-5, but Shapovalov broke his serve to seal the set victory. Shapovalov, who had six aces and saved all three break points he faced, pulled off another break while up 4-3 in the second set, then served for the match.
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