A LOSS to Andrey Rublev compounding earlier defeats to Tommy Paul and Grigor Dimitrov has given Aussie Alex de Minaur an opportunity to snatch the last spot in the ATP Finals race. The Australian advanced through to the Erste Bank Open semi-finals overnight with a 6-7 6-3 6-4 win over young Czech Jakub Mensik.

The Australian second seed is now the highest ranked player in Vienna, but more importnatly the victory over Next Gen Finals-bound Mensik edged de Minaur closer to Rublev’s eighth spot, and further clear of Dimitrov and Paul in 10th and 11th respectively.

By gaining an additional 100 points compared to Rublev, de Minaur moved to within 165 points of eighth spot ahead of the Paris Masters 1000 event. If he can win his semi-final against Russian Karen Khachanov, then that deficit will close to just 35 points and enable de Minaur the chance to just go one round better than Rublev in Paris.

In the win, de Minaur spent two hours and 34 minutes on court and withstood 15 aces off the Czech’s racquet, to be marginally clear on first serve points won (78 to 77 per cent) and well clear on second serve points won (53 to 46 per cent). He broke twice – once in each of the second and third sets, and did not concede a break from any of his four chances during the match.

The Australian was well aware of how important each win was for him to make it to the ATP Finals in Turin.

“Now it’s crunch time. Every match counts. Every single point counts,” de Minaur said.

“I am gonna do my best. I haven’t played enough tennis this year, I have been sidelined for a while. So, plenty of energy and plenty of fight in me. So, I am going to make sure I give it my all every time I step out on court.”

His next opponent is Khachanov who overcame the in-form Matteo Berrettini 6-1 6-4 to make it seven wins in a row as the titleholder of Almaty last week. The 28-year-old won in one hour and 18 minutes, and always looked on top. It was the first time the Russian had beaten the Italian, having previously lost in the other four matches.

Everything is shaping up for de Minaur to overtake Rublev if he can overcome Khachanov, with sixth seeded Lorenzo Musetti coming from behind to upset top seed Alexander Zverev in three sets, 2-6 7-6 6-4. The Olympic bronze medallist will now take on seventh seed Jack Draper – who defeated another Czech in Tomas Machac – for a spot in the ATP 500 final.

AROUND THE TOUR

Rublev’s ATP Finals hopes were dealt the blow on a day of upsets across the Swiss Indoors tournament. The Russian Top 10 talent and top seed lost to sixth seeded American Ben Shelton in two hours and 15 minutes. Shelton won 7-5 6-7 6-4 to reach the semi-finals of the ATP 500 event in Basel in what was the pair’s first encounter. The American overcame a delay to the match due to heavy spoke, but got on with it to win despite losing four more points than his opponent.

He will now tackle seventh seed Arthur Fils in the semi-finals after the Frenchman ended third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas‘ slim hopes of reaching Turin. Fils won 7-6 6-3 in a tight one, and is currently leading the Next Gen race. In other results his fellow Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard took down Canadian wildcard Denis Shapovalov in three sets 6-7 6-3 7-6 with another ridiculous serving display of 27 aces, with the tall now locking horns with Danish four seed Holger Rune in the last four.