Australia's tennis battler supreme Alex de Minaur has delivered perhaps his greatest show of defiance on a tennis court at the Qatar Open, resistance so amazing it made his eventual conqueror Andrey Rublev joke he felt like punching him in exasperation.
De Minaur was the very model of indomitability, extraordinarily saving seven match points in three separate games and also a deciding tiebreak against old foe Rublev before eventually succumbing 6-1 3-6 7-6 (10-8) to the volatile Russian in a quite epic quarter-final in Doha on Thursday.
Some 45 minutes after saving his first match point at 5-2 down in the final set with the most spectacular of rallies, second-seeded de Minaur was still battling in his own uniquely tigerish fashion to save the day when one last backhand strayed wide as he tried to repel an eighth match point.
