De Minaur sees off Dimitrov to reach Rotterdam final, set for career-high ranking of No 9

Australian Alex De Minaur, the No 5 seed, won against Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, the No 6 seed, 6-4, 6-3 to move into the final of the Rotterdam Open at the Rotterdam Ahoy on Saturday.

De Minaur, ranked No 11, will play the winner of the match between Italian Jannik Sinner, the top seed, and Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor next.

“I’m extremely happy with the level throughout the whole match,” said De Minaur, who will return to the top 10 next week in a career-high position of No 9. “It was probably one of the better matches I’ve played from start to finish. Even saying that, I always know that Grigor is going to lift his level and compete until the end, and I had to fight off some pretty tough break points, when I came up with some of my best tennis.

“That was the key today. I managed to hold onto my serve at key moments and I live to fight another day.”

Ahead of his victory, the Australian defeated American Sebastian Korda (6-4, 6-3), Belgian qualifier David Goffin (6-3, 6-1) and Russian Andrey Rublev, the second seed (7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-3).

Dimitrov, ranked No 13, beat Italian Lorenzo Sonego (7-6 (4), 6-3), Hungarian Marton Fucsovics (6-3, 7-5) and Kazakh Alexander Shevchenko (7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-4) in the previous rounds of the Rotterdam tournament.

Rotterdam ATP 500, other semi-final result (Rotterdam Ahoy, hard, EUR 2.134.985):

• Jannik Sinner vs. Tallon Griekspoor