Alex De Minaur faces Tommy Paul at the Mexican Open after beating Holger Rune in the semifinals

Alex De Minaur has a chance to win his seventh ATP Tour title after the Australian defeated a top-10 opponent, Denmark’s Holger Rune, in the semifinals of the Mexican Open in Acapulco.

In a match played in dwindling humidity that ended just before 3am local time, De Minaur kept his composure and finished strongly to beat world No. 10 3-6 7-5 6-2 .

The second set alone lasted an hour and 20 minutes as the pair battled through a series of long rallies.

Neither found it easy to break the other, with nine break points saved between them before De Minaur finally forced the break in game 12 to take the match into a decider.

The 24-year-old dominated the final set against a tiring Rune to win the match after two hours and 48 minutes.

The Australian’s serve proved a problem, with a first-serve rating of just 50 for the match, including 10 double faults.

De Minaur was also beaten by the fourth-placed Dane, with Rune scoring 38 winners against his opponents’ 18.

But the Australian’s signature ability to stay alive within points paid off as Rune made 38 unforced errors compared to just 16 for De Minaur.

“It feels great. It feels like I deserve it,” he told ATP Tour.com after reaching his 11th ATP Tour final. “I persevered, I stayed tough.”

In the other semifinal, Tommy Paul won an all-American matchup against Taylor Fritz.