Alex de Minaur finally broke through against Stefanos Tsitsipas at the DC Open, winning in three sets and ending a stubborn run that had defined their matchup for more than a year. It was only his second career victory over Tsitsipas, and it came after he had lost 12 of their previous 13 meetings.
That is why the result mattered as soon as the second-round matches started to settle in Washington. De Minaur did not just advance into the second round with a hard-earned win; he also turned one of the tour’s one-sided recent rivalries into a rare setback for Tsitsipas.
The same day brought other seeded players through the draw, with Taylor Fritz, the third seed, beating Kamil Majchrzak in straight sets and Lorenzo Musetti, the fourth seed, also moving on. Rafael Jódar defeated Kei Nishikori in straight sets as the DC Open continued to sort out its second-round field.
Musetti’s result was less tidy than the scoreline suggests. He looked in full control and was serving for the match before Aleksandar Vukic won the final two games of the second set and dragged the contest into a deciding set, a reminder that even the smoothest afternoon can turn suddenly in Washington.
For de Minaur, though, the story is cleaner: one breakthrough, one rare win, and a place in the second round that carries more weight than an ordinary advance. The question now is whether this is the start of a real shift in a matchup he had long been chasing, or just the one night Tsitsipas finally let slip away.
