By Richard Pagliaro | Saturday, October 25, 2025
Photo: Erste Bank Open Facebook
The network shared the pleasure and the pain in Vienna.
Jannik the Sinner continues to turn the tennis court into a torture chamber for Alex de Minaur.
Today, Sinner held off a determined de Minaur 6-3, 6-4 to reach his second Vienna final in three years.
The second-ranked Sinner notched his 20th consecutive indoor victory – and improved to a dominant 12-0 lifetime against de Minaur.
Vienna 2023 champion Sinner extended his Erste Bank Open winning streak to nine matches.
Continuing his tough finals run, Sinner reached his eighth final in 10 tournaments this season, becoming the first man to reach eight finals in back-to-back seasons since Novak Djokovic did it in 2015-2016.
The top-seeded Italian will face fourth-seeded compatriot Lorenzo Musetti or second-seeded German Alexander Zverev in tomorrow’s final in Vienna. Sinner is undefeated against the Italians.
A sharp sinner scored 12 of the first 14 points to grab a 3-0 lead after just eight minutes of this semifinal.
You can’t blame the tenacious de Minaur for trying to assert his aggression early – if you’re facing a suffocating opponent 11 times in a row, you’d be inclined to flip the tactical switch as well – the challenge is that Sinner lands every big shot and the Aussie’s flat moves were running out of tape early on.
However, de Minaur always brings the fight.
Twenty minutes into the match, the US Open quarter-finalist made a quick return and Sinner hit a shot at the net to face his first break point of the tournament. De Minaur tried it again with two hands, netting another backhand to break for the first time at 1-4.
The ATP leader in strong match wins this season (40), de Minaur denied holding a break point for 2-4.
The early edge from Sinner faded a bit as he hit a couple of balls off the bar and then let off a back pass to de Minaur only to see it land on the line. Sinner overcame that mistake and a warning for a time violation from strict chair umpire Fergus Murphy to hold on for 5-2 after 36 minutes.
Hitting his first ace earned Sinner set point and he dropped a shot to close out the 44-minute opening set. Sinner won nine of de Minaur’s 18 first serve points and overcame those two service breaks to take the set.
Pressing a cross-arm, Sinner grabbed triple break point in the fifth game of the second set. De Minaur double faulted as Sinner netted on a love break trap for 3-2.
Showing his accuracy on the run, de Minaur took out a couple of wing runners to come back and level after six games. That didn’t faze Sinner, who scorched the heavy drives down the middle, handcuffing the Aussie into pulling a backhand to win his second consecutive break for 4-3.
Sinner served out his eighth semifinal win of the year at love closing out in 87 minutes.
