Alex de Minaur is the defending Washington Open champion.
The Australian saved three championships points before defeating Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 on the Stadium Court.
“You’re way too good to not have one of these; it’s coming for sure. You deserved it today, I just got lucky,” De Minaur told Fokina during his post-match remarks.
Will Alex de Minaur finish 2026 ranked inside the top five?
De Minaur went on to reach the Canadian Open quarter-finals and lose in the Cincinnati Open first round.
But how did he perform in New York?
How the past five Washington title winners have fared at the US Open
Alex de Minaur reached the quarter-finals of last year’s US Open, beating four unseeded players en route to the last eight.
Felix Auger-Aliassime then defeated the Australian 4-6, 7-6, 7-5, 7-6.
It was the sixth time De Minaur has advanced to a Grand Slam quarter-final without reaching the last four.
“It is very tough when you have worked so hard for something and you constantly are putting yourself in positions to, in a way, prove people wrong, right? But yet again, you kind of fall, and especially this time, it’s a tough one to take,” De Minaur told reporters following the defeat.
In 2024, American Sebastian Korda won the Washington Open title for the first time after beating future Roland Garros finalist Flavio Cobolli.
Korda failed to carry his good form into the 2024 US Open, losing in the second round to unseeded Czech Tomas Machac.
A year prior to Korda’s triumph in Washington, Dan Evans won the biggest title of his career in the American capital.
Evans, who defeated Frances Tiafoe and Grigor Dimitrov en route to the Washington title, went on to reach the US Open third round later that year.
Evans beat Daniel Galan and Botic van de Zandschulp in New York, before losing to Carlos Alcaraz in straight sets.
Nick Kyrgios and Jannik Sinner won the 2022 and 2021 Washington Open titles, respectively.
Kyrgios performed superbly at the 2022 US Open. Despite being the 23rd seed, Kyrgios defied the odds to reach the quarter-finals; beating Daniil Medvedev en route to the last eight.
There, he was beaten by Karen Khachanov in five sets.
A year earlier, Jannik Sinner reached the US Open fourth round, before losing to Alexander Zverev in straight sets.
- 2025: Alex de Minaur reached the quarter-finals, where he lost to Felix Auger-Aliassime
- 2024: Sebastian Korda was beaten in the second round by Tomas Machac
- 2023: Dan Evans lost to Carlos Alcaraz in the third round
- 2022: Nick Kyrgios’ run in New York came to an end in the quarter-finals at the hands of Karen Khachanov
- 2021: Jannik Sinner was beaten in the fourth round by Alexander Zverev
Who will Alex de Minaur play in his first Washington Open match?
De Minaur, now ranked fifth in the world, has returned to the tournament this year as the number one seed.
The ‘Demon’ would become only the fifth man to defend the Washington title if he were to once again win the ATP 500 event.
De Minaur will begin his campaign against former world number three Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Tsitsipas, a two-time Grand Slam finalist, has been forced to enter the Washington event as a wildcard after slipping down the ATP rankings in recent months.
However, the Greek star has been in good form, recently winning his first title for 16 months in Gstaad, Switzerland.
Tsitsipas has a dominant record against De Minaur, winning 12 of their 13 matches on the circuit.
