Alex de Minaur has notched the 350th tour-level victory of his career at the Vienna Open, overcoming old rival Matteo Berrettini 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 in the quarter-finals to set up a clash with Alexander Zverev.
The world No 10 defeated the Italian for the second successive year at the ATP 500 event inside the Wiener Stadthalle. The straight-sets triumph advanced the Australian into the semi-finals of the Austrian indoor hard-court tournament for the third consecutive year, wrapping up the contest in an hour and three-quarters.
The milestone makes de Minaur the ninth Australian man to reach 350 tour-level wins, joining a distinguished list that includes Lleyton Hewitt, John Alexander, Rod Laver, John Newcombe, Ken Rosewall, Phil Dent, Tony Roche, and Pat Rafter.
De Minaur battled through a tightly contested opening set, saving a set point at 5-6 before taking control of the tiebreak when Berrettini missed a simple put-away into the net. The second set turned early when the Australian saved a pair of break points and capitalized in the next game after the Italian miscued a straightforward smash for an air-shot. The victory was underpinned by a stellar serving display—landing 71% of his first serves—which statistically matched his best serving performance of the season and saw him out-ace the big-serving Berrettini 5-4.
“That’s been an emphasis as of late, and I do feel like I’ve got in a good rhythm on serve and feel like I’m confident with what I’m doing,” de Minaur said. “I maybe didn’t serve as well as I would have liked to at the start of the week, but today was a great serving display from me, and you know, hopefully I can keep it going.”
Standing between de Minaur and a place in the final is Zverev, who powered past British wildcard Arthur Fery 6-0, 6-2 in under an hour. Zverev is set to be crowned world No 1 on Monday. The upcoming semi-final will mark their third meeting in just over a month, following recent encounters at the Laver Cup and in Shanghai. While de Minaur defeated Zverev at the Laver Cup, he is still seeking his first individual-tournament win against the German.
“Yeah, 100 per cent, that’s the aim,” de Minaur said regarding his upcoming challenge. “That’s the types of matches that you want to be playing, against the best in the world – and right now he’s the best in the world. So I’m excited for that. Another battle.”
Beyond reaching the milestone, the victory carries significant weight for de Minaur’s qualification campaign for the season-ending ATP Finals in Turin. A victory against Zverev would propel him back into the eighth and final qualifying spot, with only the Paris Masters remaining after Vienna before the year-end championship.
Elsewhere on the tennis circuit, Daniil Medvedev secured his qualification for the ATP Finals for the seventh time by defeating Adrian Mannarino 6-2, 6-3. Medvedev will face world No 3 Carlos Alcaraz, who overcame Tommy Paul 6-4, 7-6 (7-2). In women’s competition, Britain’s Harriet Dart saved two match points to defeat Sun Xinran 5-7, 7-6 (1), 6-0 at the Guangzhou Open, reaching her first WTA Tour singles final, where she will face Austria’s Lilli Tagger. In Osaka, Leylah Fernandez beat Kamilla Rakhimova 7-5, 6-3 to set up a final against Diana Shnaider, who defeated Mia Pohankova 6-4, 7-6 (7).
