Alex de Minaur was a man on a mission on Friday at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, where he delivered a statement performance to reach the semi-finals. The 26-year-old Australian eased past Grigor Dimitrov 6-0, 6-0 in just 44 minutes to reach the last four at a clay-court ATP Tour event for the third time in his career. It was the first double bagel served up at the quarter-final stage or later on the ATP Tour since 2013, when Roger Federer blanked Mischa Zverev in the Halle quarter-finals.
De Minaur will next continue his quest for a maiden clay-court trophy against three-time champion Stefanos Tsitsipas or Lorenzo Musetti. “With the troubles I had on this surface at the start of my career, I didn’t quite understand it and how to play well on it,” De Minaur said of his improvements on clay. "As the years have gone by, I have grown to understand the things I can do well to become a tough opponent on this surface. I’m very happy that I am playing better and better every year.”
“It’s not about hitting hard, powerful shots [on clay]. It’s about opening up the court, using angles, height, and different speeds. Understanding the balance between being too aggressive and too passive.”
All business from the 😈 @alexdeminaur powers past Dimitrov in straight sets to reach his second Masters 1000 semi-final! @ROLEXMCMASTERS | #RolexMonteCarloMasters
With his 20th victory of the season, De Minaur extended his lead for the most wins on the ATP Tour in 2025. The No. 10 in the PIF ATP Rankings now owns a 20-6 record this year, and his nearest contenders are Carlos Alcaraz and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who each recorded their 18th triumph on Friday to set a semi-final clash in Monte-Carlo.
De Minaur's convincing win, which improves him to 4-2 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Dimitrov, comes on the heels of a dominant 6-2, 6-2 performance against ninth seed Daniil Medvedev in the quarter-finals. While Dimitrov struggled to find his range and often lacked intensity, De Minaur took complete advantage with relentless hitting from the baseline, committing just six unforced errors in a 23-minute opening set. The pattern continued in the second, during which the Australian landed an inch-perfect lob to break serve in the first game and motored across the line.
Grigor Dimitrov left commentators “shocked and speechless” as he suffered a double-bagel defeat for the first time in his career. The world No. 18 was seeking his third semi-final appearance at the Monte-Carlo Masters but was blown off the court by Alex de Minaur. The Australian, who is seeded eighth this week, needed just 44 minutes to send Dimitrov packing. It’s also the first time De Minaur has ever won a match 6-0 6-0, and he's now through to his second career semi-final at Masters 1000 level.
It was a horrible day at the office for Dimitrov, the No. 15 seed in Monte-Carlo. The Bulgarian had struggled in his matches earlier this week, dropping sets to Monegasque wildcard Valentin Vacherot and to Alejandro Tabilo. Dimitrov knew he needed to raise his level after advancing to the quarter-final, but things didn’t go to plan, and he was handed the worst loss of his 16-year career.
De Minaur raced through the first set in just 23 minutes and continued his demolition job in the second as Dimitrov struggled to win a point and hit only one winner in the entire match. The Monte-Carlo Country Club fell silent as the Aussie stepped up to serve for the match, and he sealed a shocking 6-0 6-0 victory with just 44 minutes on the clock.
“Shocked is the right word, to be honest. I’m… shocked and speechless,” former world No. 21 Gilles Muller said. “We all knew that it was going to be a tough match for Dimitrov but we didn’t expect this.”
But it was all smiles for De Minaur, who wrote “clay dog” on the camera lens. Asked whether he was aware that it was his first 6-0 6-0 win, he replied: “I did know that. In fact, I know that the only time I ever lost love and love myself was to Tommy Paul in the semi-final of US Open juniors! So yeah, it’s pretty crazy.”
“With the troubles I’ve had at the start of my career on this surface, I didn’t quite understand how to play well on this surface and as the years have gone by, I’ve grown to understand the things I can do well on this surface to be a tough opponent and I’m very happy that I’m playing better and better.”
As clinical and impressive as De Minaur was, it was a brutal outing for Dimitrov — with the world No. 18 yet to reveal whether he was hampered by any physical ailments. The last eight clash marks the first time a Masters 1000 match at the quarter-final, semi-final, or final stage has ended with a 6-0, 6-0 scoreline since the Masters format was introduced in 1990.
The stats behind the incredibly lopsided contest make for difficult reading from a Dimitrov perspective. Dimitrov landed just one winner in the match, while a staggering 23 of the 63 points played ended with unforced errors from the 33-year-old Bulgarian’s racket. De Minaur, meanwhile, made seven winners and eight unforced errors.
None of the 12 games went to deuce (40-40), with Dimitrov reaching 30 in just six games. De Minaur won an overwhelming 48 of the 63 points played (76%) as Dimitrov won 10 points in the first set and just five points in an astonishingly one-sided second set.
De Minaur’s dominant streak came after he crushed Daniil Medvedev 6-2, 6-2 in the last 16 and won the second and third sets against Tomas Machac 6-0, 6-3 in the second round. He will now face either Lorenzo Musetti or three-time Monte-Carlo Masters champion Stefanos Tsitsipas in Saturday’s semi-final.
