Alex de Minaur defeats Alejandro Davidovich Fokina to reach first Masters 1000 final at Canadian Open

Alex de Minaur breezed past Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-1 6-3 to reach the final of the Canadian Open.

Davidovich Fokina had defeated American Mackenzie McDonald in straight sets on Friday to reach Saturday’s match and had battled to impressive wins over Alexander Zverev and then Casper Ruud earlier in the tournament.

De Minaur also had some notable performances as he progressed, beating Daniil Medvedev on Friday and Taylor Fritz before then as he reached his maiden Masters semi-final.

The 24-year-old Australian will be hoping to improve on his best performance at the upcoming US Open as he prepares for the final Grand Slam of the season, with his best showing so far at Flushing Meadows a second-round exit in 2019.

He has shown decent form of late, reaching the Los Cabos Open final earlier this month, losing to Stefanos Tstitsipas.

Davidovich Fokina reached the US Open fourth round for the second time last year, but the world No. 35 is struggling for form a little in 2023.

That showed in the first set as De Minaur converted two of four break points and sent down two aces to win it 6-1 and move him a set from victory.

The Spaniard showed a little more life as he added three games in the second set, but was still broken twice more, and failed to register a single ace against his more ruthless opponent.

“It was a very tough day. Very tricky conditions out here,” said De Minaur. “Very windy, and not easy to play tennis, so from the first point I just told myself to stay positive. I was going to try and win every point, try to be solid and not expect perfect tennis. I think that made the difference today.”

“[I‘m proud of] bringing out the level that I knew I always could and being able to back it up day after day. That’s been one of the goals of mine, to stay consistent and keep bringing this level, and give myself chances to play in the deep ends of tournaments. To play against the best in the world and go toe-to-toe with them.

“I gave myself the chance this week, I’ve taken that opportunity, and tomorrow I get to play another final.”

Tommy Paul and Jannik Sinner play in the other semi-final ahead of Sunday’s final.