Aussie De Minaur warms up for home slam with Antalya title

[January 13, 2021]    (Reuters) - Australian Alex de Minaur warmed up for his home Grand Slam with an ATP title on Wednesday, winning the Antalya Open when fellow finalist Alexander Bublik retired with an ankle injury after just seven minutes' play.

Australia's Alex de Minaur in action during his first round match against Germany's Dominik Koepfer. Pool via REUTERS/Clive Brunskill

De Minaur, his country's highest-ranked player at 23rd, was 2-0 up in the first set when the Kazakh pulled out.

De Minaur said victory at the Turkish ATP 250 tournament - his fourth main-tour title - was a massive boost going into next month's Australian Open.

"At the start of the year that's what you need," he told reporters. "I knew I had put in a great pre-season, I was ready to compete.

"I just think I gave myself the best possible chance to go deep into this tournament and I'm happy how it finished."

The 21-year-old missed last year's Australian Open due to an abdominal strain.

"It was a bittersweet moment last year so hopefully a year later I can come back stronger and have a great Aussie summer," he said.

"I am really looking forward to going back home and (to) play in front of the home crowd, that's for sure."

Bublik had twisted his right leg during Tuesday's semi-final victory over France's Jeremy Chardy.

"I twisted my ankle yesterday... I was in the physio room for three hours yesterday and I tried to get ready for the match today," he told the ATP Tour website.

(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; editing by John Stonestreet)

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