De Minaur upsets world No 1-elect Zverev in Vienna to reach final

Alex de Minaur, the world No 10, defeated world No 1-elect Alexander Zverev 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (7-4) in the Vienna Open semi-final at the Wiener Stadthalle on Saturday to reach the championship match.

De Minaur will face Carlos Alcaraz in the final after Alcaraz beat Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) in the earlier semi-final. The victory propelled De Minaur back among the top-eight qualifiers for the ATP Finals, with next week’s Paris Masters the last event in the Race to Turin, and represented his first individual-tournament win over Zverev; his only prior victories over the German had come in team events and at the Laver Cup.

The match swung between controlled aggression and momentum shifts, with De Minaur producing 25 winners and closing out a tense deciding tiebreak. He acknowledged the pressure and his own errors, saying: "I’m super proud, super stoked of how I handled the moment. I was very calm, even though I threw in a couple of doubles there." He added: "All in all, I played a very aggressive deciding tiebreak. I played on my terms. I was going to go out swinging and playing the right type of tennis, and that’s what made the difference today."

Zverev became visibly irritated as he served at 5-6 to stay in the match after receiving a time violation for his prolonged ball-bouncing; umpire Arnaud Gabas initially issued the sanction then withdrew it following Zverev’s protests. The disturbance did not unsettle De Minaur, who won the first three points of the tiebreak and held control despite committing a couple of double faults.

Zverev claimed the second set after De Minaur’s serving deteriorated, but the Australian regrouped to take the final set in a high-quality decider. The result will see Zverev start his reign as world No 1 when next week’s rankings are published, while De Minaur’s victory carried immediate qualification and ranking implications.

Asked what it would mean to win the ATP 500 title and move closer to a third successive end-of-season Turin appearance, De Minaur smiled: "It would be a pretty decent week, I would say. "I’m just happy with the way I’m competing, the way I’m going about my business. Just one foot in front of the other, doing what I can. Ultimately I’m playing some good tennis, looking forward to hopefully finishing strong this season."

De Minaur faces Carlos Alcaraz in the Vienna Open final at the Wiener Stadthalle; a tournament win would move him from No 10 to No 7 in the world rankings.