Alex de Minaur says the groin injury that ended his China Open final is “feeling better and better every single day”, and his tennis backed him up on Tuesday. The Australian beat Karen Khachanov 6-3, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals of the Rolex Shanghai Masters, a week after retiring hurt against Novak Djokovic in Beijing.
It is his 10th ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinal, according to The Tennis Gazette, and he will face the winner of Tuesday’s late match between top seed Alexander Zverev and Alexander Bublik.
“Today was by far the best day”
De Minaur arrived in Shanghai straight from Beijing, where he stopped in the final against Djokovic after losing the first set 6-7(3) and trailing 0-1 in the second. Asked in Shanghai how much he trusted his movement, he said: “It’s been seven to eight days since that match, and there’s been a lot of focus on the recovery aspect of it. I’ve been doing everything in my power to feel better each and every day. Today was by far the best day.”
The way he beat Khachanov suggests he meant it. Against a player he called “so dangerous” if allowed to dictate, de Minaur went after the ball rather than waiting. “In the first set I hit a big one to break,” he said of his down-the-line backhand. “There were a couple big ones throughout the match where I just backed myself, and I’m glad that I did that because if I let him dictate, he’s so dangerous.”
That matters for a player recovering from a groin injury, the kind of problem that bites hardest when stretching wide for a ball. Choosing to strike first, rather than wait and defend, was the sensible way to play a week after retiring hurt, and it worked: Khachanov did not take a set.
Zverev or Bublik
De Minaur’s quarterfinal opponent will be settled later on Tuesday, and the two options pose very different questions. He has a 4-8 record against Zverev and a 4-2 record against Bublik, The Tennis Gazette notes. His own preview was generous to both. “Zverev, number one player in the world. He has played incredible this whole year, immense amount of confidence, the most in-form player, for sure,” he said. “Bublik, he’s got the ability to beat anyone on any given day.”
Our read: the numbers point one way. A 4-8 record against Zverev is the gap between de Minaur and the very top, and Zverev arrives in form, having beaten Quentin Halys in the third round for his 60th tour-level win of 2026. He has already secured the year-end No. 1 ranking. Bublik, against whom de Minaur has won four of six, would be the kinder draw for a player still managing an injury.
Why this run matters
De Minaur is chasing a place at the ATP Finals in Turin next month, The Tennis Gazette reports, which explains the urgency: a Masters 1000 quarterfinal is a big haul of points at this stage of the race. Our guide to how tennis rankings work explains how Masters points are counted.
The bigger question is whether the injury holds up across back-to-back matches against the best players left in the draw. On Tuesday’s evidence he is moving well enough to win. A quarterfinal against Zverev would be the real test.
Sources: The Tennis Gazette, ATP Tour.
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