Big Aussie double in Paris as Demon scores in final – Australian Associated Press

Alex de Minaur is one step away from securing a coveted spot at the ATP Finals for the first time – and he’s achieved it with a little help from a fellow little Parisian friend.

On a day when his Sydney pal Alexey Popyrin celebrated another big win over Daniil Medvedev, de Minaur also reached the third round of the Paris Masters with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) victory over Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic.

On court in Bercy, the Australian was cheered on by young “superfan” Paul, who De Minaur had taken under his wing for supporting him through all weathers during his breakthrough run to the French Open quarter-finals at Roland Garros. in June.

And the pair had much to celebrate during their reunion as ‘The Demon’ was on the verge of becoming one of the top eight players in line for the end-of-season men’s showpiece final in Turin.

In the live rankings, the 25-year-old is now just 75 points behind eighth-placed Andrey Rublev, who has already bowed out of the tournament, and he will overtake the Russian if he wins his round of 16 match.

It’s a big if, however, as de Minaur will have to beat either already qualified world No. 6 Taylor Fritz or in-form Briton Jack Draper, his winner at the US Open.

De Minaur had to scramble to save two set points in the second stanza against world number 55 Kecmanovic before winning a tiebreak that was effectively decided by one stray forehand from the Serbian on serve at 5-4.

Earlier on Wednesday, Popyrin, who in August became the first Australian to win the Masters 1000 in more than two decades by defeating Rublev at the Canadian Open, was caught in a wave of outrage when he knocked out another Russian, the world number five. Medvedev 6-4 2-6 7-6 (7-4).

World No. 24 Popyrin flew into a rage after a disastrous line judge’s decision against him at a crucial moment in the ninth game of a nervy, error-ridden deciding set resulted in a point being forced to be replayed as Popyrin faced a critical situation. breaking point.

“I don’t want to play,” Popyrin complained, but he regained his composure, held serve and then came out on top in the tiebreaker to claim his third career victory over a top-five opponent.

“My animation came out after this call,” Popyrin said.

“It was a difficult call, but with things like this I try to dismiss, not humiliate and demotivate. It definitely encouraged me, maybe woke me up a little bit and made me play a little more freely.”

He had lost three previous matches to the former US Open champion but, thanks to Medvedev’s unusual service problems, which included 14 double faults, he prevailed after almost two and a half hours.

In a tense final break, the key moment came when Medvedev double faulted for the final time to give Popyrin a match point, which the Australian then converted with a fine volley into the net for his 31st winner of the match.

“Doing the work here at the last Masters of the year, where I really wanted to go deeper, is a big step,” Popyrin said.

He will then face one of the fittest players on tour, Karen Khachanov, who survived a 20-ace blitz from monster house favorite Giovanni Mpetsha Perricar to win 6-7 (12-14) 6-1 6-4.