Alexander Zverev will become world number one on Monday, but he will go into the job after a defeat. Alex de Minaur beat the German top seed 6-4 1-6 7-6 (7-4) in the Vienna Open semi-finals on Saturday. It was Zverev’s first loss since he guaranteed his place at the top of the ATP rankings.
The Australian fifth seed won in a little under two and a half hours. He will play Carlos Alcaraz in Sunday’s final. The Spanish second seed beat Daniil Medvedev 6-4 7-6 (7-2) earlier in the day.
De Minaur had never beaten Zverev at an individual tour event before. “I’m super proud, super stoked of how I handled the moment,” the 27-year-old said. “I was very calm, even though I threw in a couple of doubles there.”
Tiebreak decides a tight contest
De Minaur dominated the opening set, playing aggressively from the baseline and taking it 6-4. Zverev responded strongly in the second. De Minaur’s serve dropped off and the German won the set 6-1 to force a decider.
Neither player had a break point in the third set. The tension showed when Zverev served at 5-6 to stay in the match. He confronted umpire Arnaud Gabas over a time violation, and Gabas withdrew the penalty after Zverev protested.
Zverev held to force the tiebreak, but De Minaur won its first three points. He served two double faults during it but kept his lead and took the tiebreak 7-4.
“All in all, I played a very aggressive deciding tiebreak,” De Minaur said. “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’s milestone week
The defeat does not affect Zverev’s ranking. The 29-year-old secured the top spot on Thursday by beating Tallon Griekspoor 6-4 7-5 in the last 16. He replaces Jannik Sinner, who is not playing in Vienna because of injury, when the new rankings are published on Monday.
Zverev will be only the second German to be ranked world number one in the men’s game. The first was Boris Becker, who last held the position in 1991. He will be the 30th man to reach number one since the rankings began in 1973.
He has had a long wait. Zverev reached a career-high of number two several years ago but repeatedly lost major finals and could not overtake first Novak Djokovic and then Sinner and Alcaraz. That changed in 2026, when he won the French Open and the US Open, his first two Grand Slam titles.
Those titles took him to the top, but Saturday’s match showed his remaining weak spots. After controlling the second set, he could not create a single break point on the De Minaur serve in the decider, and the argument with the umpire at 5-6 showed how much pressure he was under.
Turin hopes revived as Alcaraz awaits
The result matters more to De Minaur than to Zverev. With only the Paris Masters left before the field for the ATP Finals is confirmed, the win moves him back into the top eight in the race to Turin, ahead of Spain’s Rafael Jodar.
Sunday’s match is De Minaur’s fourth final of the season. His only title this year came at the Rotterdam Open in February. He reached the semi-finals in Vienna in each of the previous two years and has now gone one round further.
His opponent will be hard to beat. Alcaraz has won all six of their previous meetings, including at this year’s Australian Open. The Spaniard is on a 25-match unbeaten run at ATP 500 events and has not lost at that level since Holger Rune beat him in Barcelona in April 2025.
Key numbers ahead of the final:
- De Minaur’s record against Alcaraz: 0-6
- Alcaraz’s ATP 500 winning streak: 25 matches
- Finals this season: De Minaur four, Alcaraz five
- Qualifying events left for Turin after Vienna: one (Paris Masters)
A first win over Alcaraz would give De Minaur his second title of the year and could secure his place among the season’s top eight. Zverev now goes to Paris, where he will play his first tournament as world number one.
—
I checked the story before writing and it’s real: four outlets report it (AAP, BBC via Yahoo Sports, Keystone-SDA via Bluewin, and beIN Sports). I’ve saved the checked facts to memory.
– **Head-to-head:** the sources disagree. AAP says De Minaur had lost all six previous meetings, while beIN says Zverev led 9-4, with De Minaur’s wins coming at the Laver Cup. The article only says this was his first win over Zverev at an individual tour event, which both accounts support.
– **Quotes:** none of the sources quote Zverev, so the article has no Zverev quotes.
– **From my own knowledge, not the sources:** Zverev’s earlier career-high of number two and his history of losing major finals. Cut that paragraph if you want the article to rely only on sourced facts.
Sources:
– [AAP – De Minaur waltzes to Vienna final by downing new No.1](https://aapnews.aap.com.au/news/de-minaur-waltzes-to-vienna-final-by-downing-new-no-1)
– [Yahoo Sports (BBC) – World number one-bound Zverev loses to De Minaur](https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/world-number-one-bound-zverev-194503783.html)
– [Bluewin – World No. 1 Zverev misses the final in Vienna](https://www.bluewin.ch/en/sport/world-no.-1-zverev-misses-the-final-in-vienna-li.3656320)
– [beIN Sports – De Minaur sets up crucial semi-final with Zverev](https://www.beinsports.com/en-au/tennis/atp-tour/articles-video/de-minaur-sets-up-crucial-semi-final-with-zverev-2026-10-30)
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
1096 articles published
