De Minaur sets personal milestone with Carabelli win in Shanghai
Alex de Minaur is treading new ground in 2025.
The No. 7 in the PIF ATP Rankings on Saturday eased past Camilo Ugo Carabelli 6-4, 6-2 to kick-start his Rolex Shanghai Masters campaign. With his 88-minute victory against Argentine Carabelli, De Minaur registered a personal-best 48th tour-level win in a single season, making him the first Australian man to hit that tally since former World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt in 2004.
Best. Season. Ever 🙌@alexdeminaur notches up his 48th victory of the season, defeating Ugo Carabelli 6-4 6-2 to advance to round three.@SH_RolexMasters | #RolexShanghaiMasters pic.twitter.com/U324TSmVsB
— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 4, 2025
“I’m happy with myself. It’s a great achievement to show the consistency,” said De Minaur after victory in his maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with Carabelli. “I feel like I probably could have broken that record last year if I hadn’t gotten injured. To come back this year and just show that consistency week-in and week-out, I’m very proud of my efforts.
“Saying that, there’s still a lot of tennis to be played, so hopefully I can keep adding wins to that tally. Keep doing what I’m doing, keep my head down, keep working hard, keep showing up, and just keep the confidence and momentum going.”
De Minaur, who did not face a break point against Carabelli according to Infosys ATP Stats, now owns a Tour-leading 35 wins on hard courts in 2025, ahead of Carlos Alcaraz and Taylor Fritz (both on 34). The Auslralian’s next challenge in Shanghai will be a fourth-round meeting with Kamil Majchrzak, who defeated 29th seed Brandon Nakashima 6-4, 6-0 to advance.
In other early Saturday action, Felix Auger-Aliassime snapped the momentum of qualifier Alejandro Tabilo in commanding fashion with a 6-3, 6-3 triumph. The Canadian saved all seven break points he faced to sink Chengdu champion Tabilo and set a meeting with 17th seed Jakub Mensik or Jesper de Jong.
With their second-round wins, both De Minaur and Auger-Aliassime have boosted their Nitto ATP Finals qualification hopes. De Minaur is seventh in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, just 325 points behind Ben Shelton, while Auger-Aliassime remains in 10th place but is just 590 points behind Lorenzo Musetti in the final qualification spot. Both De Minaur and Auger-Aliassime are chasing a second appearance at the prestigious season finale.
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