Alex De
Minaur to Face
Carlos Alcaraz in ATP Queen's Club Final and Could Join
Girlfriend
Katie Boulter as Grass Champions
This will
be De Minaur's second final appearance of the year, this time on grass. In
early March, he clinched the ATP 500 Acapulco Open title, coming back from a
set down against Tommy Paul. In the Mexican tournament, De Minaur defeated
Holger Rune in the semifinals, just as he did yesterday at
Queen's Club Championships, winning 6-3,
7-6(2) on Saturday.
However,
the challenge in this final will be greater as he faces first seed Carlos
Alcaraz, who has double motivation as he could reclaim the world No. 1 ranking
if he wins and just before the start of Wimbledon.
De Minaur
already has a grass court title under his belt, having lifted the trophy at
Eastbourne in 2021, and he has demonstrated this week that he can perform at a
high level on this surface. The world No. 18 could also achieve his highest
career ranking if he wins the tournament, climbing to the 14th spot in the
world rankings.
"I'm
having an amazing week, let's just hope I can do just one better
tomorrow," he said.
"I
love being here, love playing on this court in front of this amazing crowd.
"It's
a pretty special tournament, today was my best match so far. So, happy days -
one to go. It would be pretty nice [to win], I'll do my best,” De Minaur added.
Given the
limited number of grass court tournaments each year, only a few players can
claim titles on this surface. However, De Minaur's girlfriend, Katie Boulter,
recently won the
Nottingham Open just a week ago.