Hamburg, May 22 (IANS) Alex de Minaur continued his spectacular return to form at the Hamburg Open, as the third-seeded Australian dropped just three games in a quarter-final rout of Luciano Darderi.

In the Match of the Day on the packed Center Court, the Australian put on an impressive performance against Luciano Darderi, winning 6-0, 6-3.

De Minaur entered Hamburg on a three-match losing streak but he danced past World No. 16 Darderi to book a semi-final spot on debut at the clay-court event in northern Germany.

De Minaur is the first Australian to reach the Hamburg semi-finals since former World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt in 2007. The 27-year-old has risen two spots to No. 7 in the ATP Live Rankings as a result of his quarter-final triumph, according to AtP stats.

Darderi found no answer to the Australian’s dominant play, especially in the first set, and repeatedly came up short in tight deuce games.

The Italian didn’t win his first game until his first service game of the second set—after 52 minutes. Darderi then forced his opponent into longer rallies, but failed to capitalize on one of his break points at 1-3. A late comeback by Darderi, cheered on by the euphoric crowd at Rothenbaum, went unrewarded.

“The last 20 or 30 minutes of this match, the conditions couldn’t have been any slower and any heavier,” said De Minaur, who prevailed in one of the match points of the 2026 season so far to seal his win.

De Minaur, who is eyeing his first ATP Tour championship-match appearance on clay, will next play Tommy Paul.

The sixth-seeded Paul earlier overcame home favourite Daniel Altmaier 6-2, 7-5 to become the first American to reach the Hamburg semi-finals since Pete Sampras in 1995.

Later, Paul’s fellow American Aleksandar Kovacevic also reached the last four. Kovacevic celebrated a hard-fought 6-4, 6-7(10), 6-2 victory over Camilo Ugo Carabelli.

For the first time since 14-time Grand Slam champion Sampras in 1995, two Americans have reached the semifinals of the Hamburg Open.

The last time two Americans were among the top four was in 1981, when it was Jimmy Connors and Harold Solomon.

–IANS

bc/