Alcaraz’s virtuoso Vienna waltz sinks battling Demon
Ian Chadband |
Alex de Minaur served up some brilliant tennis but it still wasn’t enough for him to break his dispiriting duck against his “annoying” and virtuoso nemesis Carlos Alcaraz in the Vienna Open final.
In their seventh meeting, Australia’s No.1 did his utmost to earn a first ever win over the great young Spaniard in Sunday’s championship match but despite dragging him into some breathtaking rallies, he invariably came off worse as Alcaraz scorched to a 6-1 6-4 victory.
“It’s great to have you back on tour,” de Minaur told the Spaniard afterwards in the Wiener Stadthalle, but couldn’t resist adding with a smile: “I will say one thing though: it is very annoying to play against you!”
“But you’re one of the good ones, one of the great guys on tour … As for myself, it’s been a great week too.”
Indeed, de Minaur could find plenty of consolations after a tournament in which he knocked out the new world No.1 Alexander Zverev in the semis, earning his first victory over the German in an individual rather than team tournament, and played perhaps his best tennis of the season.
Now he will fly straight off to Paris for the Masters tournament there, the crucial last qualifying event for the ATP Finals, also knowing he’s in the eighth and final spot to be part of the Turin end-of-season men’s championship.
“I’m proud to be standing up here and still fighting,” said de Minaur, who’ll move back to No.8 in the world from No.10 after reaching his third final of the year.
“So I’m excited for what’s left for this year, and, hopefully I can continue pushing and have a longer year.”
Still, though, he couldn’t cope with the brilliance of 23-year-old Alcaraz, who lifted his fourth title of the season and the 28th of his career, sweeping to victory without dropping a set all week.
After the wrist trouble that ripped a hole in his season, he really is looking back to something like the world-beater who lifted the Australian Open crown at the start of 2026.
Alcaraz, who’s dropped only two sets to de Minaur in their seven contests, never looked back again after a scintillating start when he caught the Aussie cold by breaking in the first game, before uncorking a champagne cross-court backhand winner to earn a second break en route to a 4-0 lead.
Happy just to eke out a single game in the opener, de Minaur was stubbornly competitive in the second, producing three sensational points when at break point and 3-4 down just to stay in the fight.
But serving to stay in the match at 4-5, the seven-time grand slam champ went into overdrive, and after applying the pressure to grab match point, played a fittingly wonderful final rally, delivering a drop shot, a lob and then a killing forehand, his 14th of the match, which clipped the baseline to seal the deal.
“He’s really fast, you have to earn every point. You might have a winner against everybody – except him,” said Alcaraz, acknowledging his opponent’s excellence.
AAP