DEMON DENIED: De Minaur Saves Three Match Points — Still Crashes Out of US Open in Stunning Upset
Australia's world No. 7 and sixth seed falls in straight sets to Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp, ranked outside the top 60 — his earliest exit from Flushing Meadows in five years.
Alex de Minaur's US Open imploded in stunning fashion on Thursday night, as the Australian sixth seed and world No. 7 was bounced from the tournament in the second round by Dutch journeyman Botic van de Zandschulp, ranked a lowly 70th in the world.
The final score — 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 — undersells just how gutting the loss was for de Minaur. Serving to stay in the match at 6-2 in the third set, he clawed back from triple match point before finally succumbing, unable to complete a comeback that would have been one of the tournament's great escapes.
It was a total reversal of history. Van de Zandschulp had never beaten de Minaur in four previous meetings, including a loss to the Australian earlier this year in Rotterdam. This time the Dutchman broke serve just once — but it was enough, as de Minaur handed back his own serve five times and finished with roughly 30 unforced errors against just 23 winners over two hours and 43 minutes.
"My level today wasn't good enough. It's pretty straightforward," de Minaur said afterward. "I was making a lot of errors, which is not really my normal game style."
De Minaur, who has reached the US Open quarterfinals three times in his career, added he wasn't panicking despite his earliest exit from the tournament in five years: "We move forward and it's not the end of the world."
For van de Zandschulp, it's the second marquee scalp of his US hardcourt swing — he also knocked off world No. 8 Daniil Medvedev at last month's Montreal Masters. He credited a career-best serving performance for finally cracking the de Minaur code, saying "today I served very well, I think that was the difference" and pointing to staying mentally locked in for the full match.
The result blows open the bottom half of the men's draw and leaves Australia's title hopes resting almost entirely on wildcard Dane Sweeny, ranked outside the top 120, who has already pulled off his own upset of 13th seed Lorenzo Musetti this week to become the last Australian standing in New York.
Van de Zandschulp will look to keep the run going Saturday when he faces Belgium's Zizou Bergs — a first career meeting between the two — for a place in the second week at Flushing Meadows.