Alex de Minaur may not score his performance in the Mubadala Citi DC Open final a perfect 10, but that will take none of the shine off the scrappy comeback that earned him his 10th tour-level title in dramatic fashion on Sunday.
In a 5-7, 6-1, 7-6(3) victory against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, the Aussie saved three championship points on serve at 5-4 in the final set — but only after breaking from 30/0 when the Spaniard served for the title. De Minaur was 16 millimetres from defeat on his opponent's third match point, but a desperate lob clipped the sideline and helped him turn the point and the match around.
"It's something about this court. I did it in 2018 against Rublev and honestly, I just kind of knew I could do it," said the Aussie, who saved four match points against Andrey Rublev that year but lost in the final to Alexander Zverev at age 19. "I just backed myself and I told myself to commit no matter what and if I lost this match it was going to be on my terms. Today it went my way. I've had a couple of brutal ones not go my way, so I'm glad this one went my way."
For Davidovich Fokina, who was seeking his first ATP Tour title, it is a cruel blow after he missed out on two championship points in Delray Beach this past February against Miomir Kecmanovic and lost the Acapulco final to Tomas Machac in March.
After a late-night, three-set upset of top seed Taylor Fritz in the quarter-finals, the Spaniard nearly repeated that magic in another three-hour battle against De Minaur. Instead, he buried his head in his towel after falling agonisingly short in final, with the Aussie coming over to console his fellow 26-year-old.
"You're way to good to not have one of these [trophies]. It's coming for sure," De Minaur told him during the trophy ceremony. "You deserved it today. I just got lucky. You are a hell of a competitor, a hell of a player. No one on the Tour wants to play you. This is not the end, this is only going up for you."
De Minaur is now 3-2 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head against Davidovich Fokina, with their first meeting coming in 2019 at the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF.
Behind his title run, De Minaur moved up five places this week to No. 8 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings and two places to eighth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin. Davidovich Fokina rose seven places in the Live Rankings to return to the Top 20 at No. 19, and also shot up seven places to 11th in the Race To Turin.
At first glance, seventh seed De Minaur and 12th seed Davidovich Fokina could have seemed like surprise men's singles finalists at the ATP 500. But their seasons on the ATP Tour paint a different picture.
At the conclusion of the event, both players lead the ATP Tour in hard-court wins in 2025 and stand among the top five in total match wins this season, De Minaur with 35 and Davidovich Fokina with 32. They are also two of just four players to have played in multiple finals on the year, alongside Carlos Alcaraz (3) and Andrey Rublev (2).
Feelin’ presidential in Washington 🏆🏛️@alexdeminaur saves three championship points en route to claiming his 10th ATP Tour title, defeating Davidovich Fokina 7-5 1-6 7-6(3)!@mubadalacitidc | #MubadalaCitiDCOpen pic.twitter.com/GP4v1LdaUT
— ATP Tour (@atptour) July 28, 2025
De Minaur credited his mentality and mindset with his recent success: "I'm very happy with where I am at the moment, how I'm dealing with things on and off the court," he explained. "I had the mindset that even if today didn't go my way, it was a very positive week.
"So I was proud of my efforts no matter what, but jeez it feels good to hold my 10th title."
