De Minaur shines on successful day for Rotterdam Open seeds

Alex de Minaur began his Rotterdam Open campaign strongly with a straight-sets win over David Goffin on Tuesday, with the Australian advancing alongside fellow seeds Carlos Alcaraz and Andrey Rublev.

De Minaur came to the Netherlands as a +650 chance in title betting with top tennis bookmakers, behind Alcaraz (+170) and Daniil Medvedev (+360).

It took him just an hour and 36 minutes to see off Goffin, racing past the Belgian 6-2, 6-4 to book his place in the round of 16.

De Minaur utilised his trademark defence to counter the veteran, outhitting his opponent 24 winners to 13.

“I’m happy with my attitude today, I did exactly what I needed to do,” the third seed said afterwards.

“David is a hell of a competitor, so I knew it was going to be a hell of a battle.

“It felt slow out here, quite tough to get used to the conditions.

“The ball got massive… It’s a very rough surface.”

The 25-year-old takes on Next Gen star Jakub Mensik next and is a -250 favourite at Bovada to book his spot in the quarter-finals.

Fourth seed Rublev also sailed through his opening match, beating China’s Zhang Zhizhen 6-3, 6-4 in just an hour and 23 minutes.

Rublev served well, facing just one break point all match while breaking Zhang’s serve once in each set.

World No.3 Alcaraz did not have such a straightforward path in his first-round clash against Botic van de Zandschulp.

While the top seed advanced, he was pushed hard over the first two sets, defending set point in the opening set and dropping the second set to go the distance against the local hope.

Despite having been a -1000 favourite on most betting apps pre-match, it took Alcaraz two hours and 34 minutes to secure a 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-1 win.

“I think there were a lot of ups and downs in the match,” said Alcaraz, who suffered a shock loss to the Dutchman in their previous meeting at the US Open last year.

“Being set point down in the first set, I think Botic played a really solid match.

“Not too many ups and downs for him, really consistent throughout the match.

“I’m just really happy to get through.

“I had to be really focused in the tough moments, to keep pushing and trust the good tennis will come again.

“I’m happy to get through a difficult match and have a chance to get better in the next round.”

Alcaraz will meet the winner of Andrea Vavassori and Felix Auger-Aliassime in the round of 16, with the latter in hot form after winning his seventh career title in Montpellier on the weekend.

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