Alex de Minaur has continued his winning streak with a victorious start to the Asian swing, coming out on top in his opening match at the China Open.
Fresh off Team World’s Laver Cup triumph, to which he contributed eight points, de Minaur defeated home hope Yunchaokete Bu in round one of the ATP 500 event.
The Australian was tested in the first set, but cruised through the second with a bagel to win 6-4, 6-0 and set up a clash with Arthur Rinderknech in the next round.
His victory left Bu puzzled, with the Chinese star stating he did not know how the tie slipped away from him.
Yunchaokete Bu reacts to his defeat to Alex de Minaur in Beijing
“I wasn’t playing well in the second set,” said Bu in his post-match press conference.
“I wasn’t feeling anything. I don’t know what happened. The first game, I was broken. After that, my mindset was kind of disrupted, and the level dropped pretty fast.
“In the second set, I wasn’t able to make a breakthrough. In the first set, I was also broken because of my own errors.
“The second set, I wasn’t able to really make adjustments. I went to the bathroom. I thought I could make some adjustments.
“In the first set, I was broken out of nowhere. The second set, it happened again. I really couldn’t control my emotions. The level dropped. That’s what happened.”
Bu has now lost all three of his tour-level meetings with de Minaur, having fallen to him in Miami and Washington earlier this year.
Yunchaokete Bu says Alex de Minaur ‘wasn’t playing that well’
De Minaur enjoyed his most comfortable win against Bu so far, following closely contested bouts in their two previous matchups.
The home favourite said of their third ATP clash: “I thought the first set was okay. Pressure wasn’t uncommon.
“He wasn’t playing that well either, and I had some opportunities. The first set, I was pretty happy with my level because that’s all I could do.
“In the second set, it was stress as well as his level of play, which resulted in the emotions or stress, which was out of control for me. That was why the level dropped.”
The world number eight will play his next opponent, Rinderknech, for the first time ever professionally at the China Open.
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