Alex de Minaur reacts during his fourth-round match against Alexander Zverev at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., on Tues., March 12, 2024. Zverev won.

tennis

Alex de Minaur Completes Special Milestone By Beating Nuno Borges to Reach ATP Shanghai Masters 2025 Quarterfinal

The Australian joins Carlos Alcaraz & Taylor Fritz in a special list.

Alex de Minaur reacts during his fourth-round match against Alexander Zverev at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., on Tues., March 12, 2024. Zverev won.

No. 7 seed Alex de Minaur extended his run of hard court success on Wednesday, as he knocked out Nuno Borges with a 7-5 6-2 scoreline in the Rolex Shanghai Masters 2025 Round of 16. Searching for his second title of the year, de Minaur produced a fighting performance to outlast his Portuguese counterpart on Stadium Court. He now awaits the winner of Daniil Medvedev vs Learner Tien in the last eight. With the win, the 26-year-old also achieved a significant record.

Alex de Minaur Records 50th Win of 2025 Against Borges in Shanghai

Faultless for fifty 🙌

Alex de Minaur continues his best season on record as he collects his 50th win of the year in beating Borges 7-5 6-2 💪#RolexShanghaiMasters pic.twitter.com/ewUEcT1DSB
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 8, 2025

It was a compact performance from the Australian, who hit 19 winners and 10 unforced errors en route to yet another hard court win. In the process, de Minaur is into his seventh ATP Masters-1000 quarterfinal. While World No. 51 Borges took the attack to his opponent, the Demon played the waiting game and got a crucial break of serve at 5-5 in the opening set. From there, it was more or less one way traffic as de Minaur decided to unleash a ruthless set of groundstrokes on the 28-year-old Portuguese.

The 1 hour 47 minute victory happened to be Alex de Minaur’s 50th win of the 2025 campaign. He is just the third male player to hit the half century mark this year – after Carlos Alcaraz (67) and Taylor Fritz (50). His previous best record was in the 2024 season, where the Aussie attained 47 wins and two trophies. “For me, it just shows consistency and that is what I am most proud of,” said de Minaur, who won the Washington DC title in late July en route to the 50-win mark.

Looking Back at Alex de Minaur’s Special 2025 Season

Alex de Minaur started the year with his home swing in Australia. At the first major of the season, the World No. 7 reached the quarterfinals. He followed it up with a terrific run to the Rotterdam finals – losing to Carlos Alcaraz in three sets. Despite being counted out during the clay court campaign, de Minaur defied all odds to reach the semifinal in Monte-Carlo and quarterfinal in Barcelona.

Towards the middle of the season, the six-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist opened up about suffering from burnout after a difficult Roland Garros campaign. But like all great champions do, de Minaur bounced back with a pre-quarterfinal finish at Wimbledon and a championship run in Washington DC. The Australian also reached the US Open 2025 quarterfinals – narrowly losing to Felix Auger-Aliassime in four tight sets.

Alex de Minaur's Rotterdam posts 😂 pic.twitter.com/HWjjWRFevp
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) February 10, 2025

In late September, Alex de Minaur went 3-0 at the 2025 Laver Cup as Team World recorded an upset win over the favored Team Europe. Shifting his focus to the Asian hard court swing, de Minaur then entered the ATP China Open as the third seed. He beat Bu, Rinderknech and Mensik to reach the semifinal – but lost to Jannik Sinner in three sets. But his fighting victories over Ugo, Majchrzak and Borges have ensured that the 50-win mark has been breached for the first time.

(Image Credits: Taya Gray, Imagn Images)

Alex de Minaur

ATP

ATP 1000

Carlos Alcaraz

Nuno Borges

Shanghai Masters 2025

Taylor Fritz

Tennis

Sankalp Harikrishnan

A passionate sports fan through and through, I am currently pursuing my MA in Global Sports Journalism. I specialise in tennis and football writing at The Playoffs News, and I have prior experience working at EssentiallySports and Sportskeeda. Born and raised in Bengaluru, India, sport was my safe space right from my childhood. After trying my hand at multiple sports and representing my educational institutions in cricket, badminton and table tennis, I found sports media to be my calling.