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De Minaur kayoed by Tsitsipas in Barcelona

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Alex de Minaur is the last Australian standing in the singles at the Barcelona Open.
Camera IconAlex de Minaur is the last Australian standing in the singles at the Barcelona Open. Credit: EPA

Alex de Minaur has been knocked out of the Barcelona Open by on-song Stefanos Tsitsipas as the Australian singles challenge at the clay court event came to an end.

The Australian No.1 lost 7-5 6-3 in one hour 24 minutes on Thursday to become the latest player to suffer at the hands of Greek star, who has now won 13 consecutive sets in a brilliant start to the European clay court season.

De Minaur had been the only Australian left in the draw after he had enjoyed a rare victory on clay with his straight-sets victory over Alexander Bublik on Wednesday.

De Minaur had beaten Kazakhstan's hit-and-miss talent Bublik 7-6 (7-3) 6-2 with, remarkably, only the third clay court win of his ATP career.

But Tsitsipas proved a different proposition as he continued the excellent form that saw him lift the Monte Carlo Masters title the previous week.

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De Minaur played an aggressive game and took the fight to Tsitsipas but the Greek pounced to earn the only break at the end of a tight first set that lasted 44 minutes.

He went on to take another hard-fought second set, sealing his victory in one hour 24 minutes.

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