Alex de Minaur's quest to reach the ATP Finals for the first time may have suffered a fatal blow at the hands of mercurial French magician Hugo Gaston, who conjured up one of the shots of the tennis year while mesmerising the Australian No.1 in Antwerp.
Meanwhile, de Minaur's fellow Australian Aleksandar Vukic enjoyed one of the best wins of his career on Friday, knocking out top seed Frances Tiafoe to reach the Almaty Open semi-finals.
The contrasting fortunes of the two Sydneysiders emerged on a busy late-season tennis day around Europe with the business end of three ATP tournaments taking place.
