Alex de Minaur acknowledged that Carlos Alcaraz is a very difficult opponent to handle but also noted that he feels he is a better matchup for him than Jannik Sinner.
On Sunday, the Australian fell just short of landing his 10th ATP title and the first one of this season after the Spaniard overcame him in three sets 6-4 3-6 6-2 in the Rotterdam final.
For the Spanish four-time Grand Slam champion, it was his third win in as many matches against the world No. 8 - but two of those three wins came in three sets.
Before losing to Alcaraz, de Minaur's last loss came against Sinner in the Australian Open quarterfinal, who thrashed him 6-3 6-2 6-1.
That win put the Italian 10-0 up in their head-to-head, with only one lost set in those 10 meetings.
De Minaur: I can rush Alcaraz, pin him and hurt him
"When I play Carlos, we always have very tough battles. Its just about these matches going my way," the Australian stated after the Rotterdam final.
"Its definitely a better matchup for me playing Carlos. I feel, in ways, I can rush him a little bit; I can pin him and hurt him, and make his life uncomfortable.
"But I havent really managed to do that against Jannik yet, so tennis is all about matchups."
After winning the second set to force a decider, de Minaur didn't manage to complete a comeback after losing his serve in the sixth and eighth games of the third set.
"A lot of people in the tennis world know this. Its the fun thing about tennis that not because one guy is ranked at a certain level and the other guy is ranked at a certain level, the higher ranked is always going to win," the world No. 8 said.
After making this point clear, de Minaur added that he "fancied my chances against Alcaraz but it didn't go my way."
