Flawless De Minaur cruises to Rotterdam Open Final

Alex de Minaur maintained his perfect record in the Netherlands this week, racing past Mattia Bellucci in the semi-finals of the Rotterdam Open on Saturday to book his place in the championship match.

The Australian, seeded third in Rotterdam, is yet to drop a set at the tournament and in looking in ominous form ahead of the final against either Hubert Hurkacz or Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday.

Coming into the match, Bellucci had knocked out seeds Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas after navigating his way through qualifying earlier in the week.

However, he was a heavy underdog across top online bookmakers to make it three upsets in a row, with de Minaur paying just $1.20 at PlayUp to defeat the Italian.

These tennis betting odds proved to be accurate as de Minaur tore past Bellucci in just an hour and seven minutes, dropping just three games in the 6-1, 6-2 clash.

Despite making just 41% of his first serves, the third seed did not face a break point all match, yet broke Bellucci on four occasions.

“He’s played with so much confidence this whole week and played some incredible tennis,” de Minaur said.

“I knew going in it was going to be a battle and he was going to play loose, the way he has all week long.

“I just had to do my best to stay with him early and see if I could get my chances early.

“Then it became a little bit more of an uphill battle for him, but he has a very, very bright future ahead, as well as so many more Italians.”

De Minaur made the final of the Rotterdam Open this time last year as well, losing to Jannik Sinner in straight sets.

Depending on how Saturday’s other semi-final unfolds between Alcaraz and Hurkacz, he may well have an equally challenging opponent on his hands in the title match this year as well.

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