Europe, 21 October 2020 | Leigh Rogers

Antwerp, Belgium

Australian Alex de Minaur has shown his fighting spirit to advance to the second round at an ATP tournament in Antwerp.

France’s Richard Gasquet, who won the inaugural edition of this tournament in 2016, had the upper hand early and served for the match at 6-3 5-4.

But De Minaur broke back and managed to close out a 3-6 7-6(5) 6-3 victory. The No.29-ranked De Minaur finished strongly, losing only five points on serve in the deciding set.

It is De Minaur’s first tour victory since his US Open quarterfinal run and sets up a second-round clash with 39-year-old Spanish veteran Feliciano Lopez.

The 21-year-old De Minaur has split results with Lopez in their two previous meetings.

Results:

Men’s singles, first round
[8] Alex de Minaur (AUS) d Richard Gasquet (FRA) 3-6 7-6(5) 6-3

Coming up:

Men’s singles, second round
[8] Alex de Minaur (AUS) v Feliciano Lopez (ESP)

Men’s doubles, first round
[A] Alex de Minaur (AUS)/Matt Reid (AUS) v Nikola Cacic (SRB)/Marcelo Demoliner (BRA)

Men’s doubles, quarterfinals
[2] John Peers (AUS)/Michael Venus (NZL) v Simone Bolelli (ITA)/Maximo Gonzalez (ARG)

Cologne, Germany

John Millman is through to the second round at an ATP tournament in Cologne.

The 31-year-old Australian posted an impressive 6-4 6-2 win over Spain’s Fernando Verdasco, saving eight of the nine break points he faced.

https://twitter.com/bett1hulks/status/1318641194545696768?s=20

Millman faces top seed and local favourite Alexander Zverev in the next round.

The No.7-ranked Zverev, who claimed his 12th ATP title last week, won his only previous meeting with Millman in five sets at Roland Garros in 2019. The Australian also lost to Zverev’s older brother, Mischa, last week.

Millman is the last Australian remaining in the singles draw, with Italian Jannik Sinner ending James Duckworth’s tournament.

Australian Open finalists Max Purcell and Luke Saville are proudly flying the Aussie flag in the doubles draw. They have advanced to their fourth tour-level quarterfinal of the season, earned with a hard-fought win against Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime and Sweden’s Robert Lindstedt.

Results:

Men’s singles, first round
John Millman (AUS) d Fernando Verdasco (ESP) 6-4 6-2
[WC] Jannik Sinner (ITA) d [LL] James Duckworth (AUS) 6-1 6-2

Men’s doubles, first round
Max Purcell (AUS)/Luke Saville (AUS) d Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN)/Robert Lindstedt (SWE) 7-6(2) 6-7(1) [10-7]

Coming up:

Men’s singles, second round
John Millman (AUS) v [1] Alexander Zverev (GER)

Men’s doubles, quarterfinals
Max Purcell (AUS)/Luke Saville (AUS) v TBC