Rotterdam, Netherlands , 8 February 2025 | AAP / Tennis Australia

Alex de Minaur has served up another clinical display to reach the Rotterdam Open final for the second-straight year, with a straight-sets win over Italian qualifier Mattia Bellucci.

The world No.8, who lost last year’s championship match of the Dutch hardcourt tournament to Jannik Sinner, has given himself another chance to become the only Australian apart from Lleyton Hewitt in 2004 to triumph in Rotterdam as he blitzed his way to a 6-1 6-2 victory in just 67 minutes.

The Sydneysider becomes the first ATP player this season to amass 11 match wins, underlining the merits of the painstaking efforts that have accompanied his top-10 rise.

“There’s a lot of hard work that goes in behind the scenes and these are the rewards.,” said De Minaur, who is guaranteed a return to a career-high No.6 ranking by virtue of reaching the final.

“You’re not guaranteed results putting in hard work, but you sure as hell giving yourself the best chance of succeeding.

“And for me, that’s always been my goal, my motivation to get the absolute most out of myself and I”m very happy with how I’m going, where I’m at.”

He can do this all day, everyday ⚡️@alexdeminaur is here, there and EVERYWHERE! @abnamroopen | #abnamroopen pic.twitter.com/Kd7s46G6eC

— ATP Tour (@atptour) February 8, 2025

World No.92 Bellucci had enjoyed what he’d called a “life-changing week” as he had battled through qualifying to take out both second seed Daniil Medvedev and sixth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.

But third seed De Minaur proved a step too far for the 23-year-old left-hander who, at the end of a draining week, could have done without running into a player who’s looked in superb form all week while cantering into the final without dropping a set.

“More than anything, I just show up every day and put my head down. I do my best every time I step out on court. I try, I try to win every point I can, and I’ve ended up having a couple of good weeks in a row,” smiled de Minaur, who had helped Australia win their Davis Cup qualifying tie in Sweden last week.

“And hopefully now I can do one better than last year.”

De Minaur has only dropped serve once over what must have felt a cathartic week for him in his first individual tournament since exiting to Sinner in the Australian Open quarterfinals – his only loss for the season.

He was in no mood to give Bellucci any breathing room as he offered up his familiar study in perpetual motion to subdue the lively Italian showman, who had quickly got the crowd on his side by producing a spectacular tweener winner to cap a brilliant rally in the very first game.

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

“I was able to really analyse his matches and see maybe a couple areas where I could hurt him and maybe he wasn’t as comfortable.

“I knew it was going to come out and play very loose and full of confidence. So I thought if I could get on top of him early, then that would kind of open up the match.

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

De Minaur quickly wore Bellucci down, eventually breaking his serve four times on his way to the 18th ATP final of his career,

The 25-year-old aims to maintain his winning momentum in the final against No.1 seed Carlos Alcaraz, who took three sets to advance over the eighth-seeded Hubert Hurkacz, knowing there is still room to improve on his current form.

“I don’t think that’s my ceiling,” De Minaur added. “I think I’ve got a little bit more to go and hopefully I can keep on pushing this year and finish strong.”

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