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    • De Minaur rolls to 6-1, 6-3 victory over Davidovich Fokina in NBO Toronto semifinal

    Alex de Minaur of Australia hits a return on his way to defeating Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain in semifinal tennis action at the National Bank Open in Toronto, Aug. 12, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn Alex de Minaur of Australia hits a return on his way to defeating Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain in semifinal tennis action at the National Bank Open in Toronto, Aug. 12, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn
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    TORONTO -

    It took Alex de Minaur a few days to find his form at the National Bank Open after a packed schedule created some challenges.

    Now that he's settled into a groove, the wins just keep on coming.

    De Minaur was in full control of a 6-1, 6-3 semifinal victory over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on Saturday to earn a berth in his first career Masters 1000 final.

    "I just told myself that no matter what, I was going to compete every point," de Minaur said. "Stay positive and not get frustrated by how the match may go, and I'm just going to give myself the best chance of staying tough mentally.

    "And I think that's probably what got me the win today."

    The 18th-ranked Australian will next play the winner of the evening semifinal between 12th-seeded American Tommy Paul and seventh-seeded Italian Jannik Sinner.

    De Minaur arrived in Toronto in the wee hours Monday morning after reaching the final last weekend in Los Cabos, Mexico. It was a quick turnaround with an opening doubles match later that day ahead of his singles opener on Tuesday.

    "The first couple rounds, I didn't play my best tennis," de Minaur said. "Just things weren't clicking. I couldn't really feel the ball in the strings and I just told myself to keep going at it."

    He managed to top 11th-seeded Cameron Norrie in the first round and bested Canadian wild-card entry Gabriel Diallo in the second round, dropping nine games in each straight-set win.

    Eighth-seeded Taylor Fritz pushed de Minaur to three sets and the Australian reached the semis by upsetting second-seeded Daniil Medvedev.

    "It's always a huge boost of confidence when you're able to go on these deep runs," de Minaur said. "But I get to play a final tomorrow and the job is not done. Keep on going."

    De Minaur broke Davidovich Fokina's serve on his first opportunity. He used his speed and return skills to keep the pressure on the Spaniard throughout the 77-minute match.

    Davidovich Fokina made 22 unforced errors to just four for de Minaur on a sunny but windy afternoon.

    "The conditions were very, very tough for both of us, so it didn't allow for ideal tennis (or) perfect tennis," de Minaur said.

    Davidovich Fokina upset third-seeded Casper Ruud and 13th-seeded Alex Zverev en route to the semifinal. The 37th-ranked player showed flashes of his previous form but mistakes snuffed out any rhythm.

    "I was late off everything," Davidovich Fokina said. "I didn't move my legs today. I (was) not giving up but it was very weird. Like a very bad day in the office."

    The consistent de Minaur did give up a break late in the second set but broke right back to improve to 32-16 on the season.

    He won his lone ATP Tour title this year in Acapulco with a three-set win over Paul. De Minaur will rise at least five spots in next week's rankings and would reach a career-high No. 11 with a title.

    In the early doubles semifinal, El Salvador's Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands posted a 6-3, 3-6, 10-5 win over the seventh-seeded duo of Spain's Marcel Granollers and Argentina's Horacio Zeballos.

    Arevalo and Rojer will next play the third-seeded pairing of American Rajeev Ram and Britain's Joe Salisbury, who picked up a 6-4, 6-4 win over sixth-seeded Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz of Germany.

    This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 12, 2023.

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