US Open 2024: De Minaur survives first-set fright to beat unseeded Virtanen

Australia’s 10th seed Alex de Minaur overcame a potential banana skin to beat Finland’s big-hitting Otto Virtanen 7-5, 6-1, 7-6(3) on Grandstand to move into the third round of the US Open on Thursday.

De Minaur is playing in his first tournament after pulling out of Wimbledon with a hip injury, with the 25-year-old also withdrawing from the singles at the Paris Olympics. He was also an injury doubt for the second-round match against Virtanen.

But after an early scare when he was serving to stay in the set, he recovered quickly to dismantle his Finnish opponent who was looking to reach the third round at a Grand Slam for the first time in his career.

“I’m happy to keep going every day, I’m getting a little bit better and I’m looking forward to what’s to come,” De Minaur said.

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“Still not a lot of expectations, but I know every time I step out there I’m going to compete, I’m going to try my hardest and hopefully put on a show.”

De Minaur had never faced Virtanen before and the Australian found himself 3-0 down at Grandstand in the blink of an eye when the towering Finn looked formidable on serve while also confidently approaching the net.

Although ranked 125 in the world, Virtanen looked like a seasoned professional and was soon 5-2 up, but that was just the wake-up call De Minaur needed as the Australian reeled off seven consecutive games to take the set and go 2-0 up in the second.

Having looked well set to spring an upset, Virtanen was suddenly his own worst enemy as his unforced error count started to pile up. The 23-year-old also took a medical timeout to receive treatment on his back.

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The physio’s efforts did not yield the desired results for Virtanen who lost his intensity and could not challenge De Minaur in the longer rallies as the 10th seed cruised into a two-set lead.

At this point, Virtanen was going for broke on most of his shots without looking at his error count and he managed to engineer a mini-recovery in the third set as he kept pace with De Minaur.

Virtanen forced a tiebreak but neither he nor his coach had answers when a clinical De Minaur raced into a 4-0 lead before clinching victory on his fourth match point when the Finn found the net.

De Minaur will face either Briton Dan Evans or Argentina’s Mariano Navone.