De Minaur Edges Mannarino For Zhuhai Title

Alex De Minaur collected his third title of the year (and third of his career) in Zhuhai Sunday beating French veteran Adrian Mannarino 7-6(4), 6-4.

“It was a really tough match. I had a lot of chances and I felt like Adrian just played better than I did in those moments. I just told myself I had to try and take control of the point and just try to dictate as much as I could and I hit a great ball and I’m happy it ended there,” De Minaur said.

De Minaur, who won Sydney and Atlanta earlier this season, beat Andy Murray, Borna Coric and then Roberto Bautista Agut to make the title match, the fifth of his young career.

The lefty Mannarino falls to 1-7 career in ATP finals.

“He played great. I don’t think that my level dropped during the match, I think that he just kept pushing all the time, being really offensive and, if you just lose your concentration for, I don’t know, 30 seconds, one minute, then you lose a crucial game and then it goes quick,” Mannarino said. “He played better than me, that’s the only thing I can remember about this match.”

“He’s one of the toughest guys to play, very tricky, and in that first set I had so many chances and I wasn’t able to break him,” De Minaur said of the Frenchman. “So I just had to make sure I stayed calm and just kept on backing myself, stay positive and I was able to play some great points to turn the tie-break around and that first set was huge.”

The 20-year-old Australian will see he ranking rise to near No. 25.

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