Oct 31 (Reuters) – Carlos Alcaraz defeated Daniil Medvedev 6-4 7-6(2) on Saturday to reach the Vienna Open final for the first time, with the Spaniard joined by Australian Alex de Minaur who upset Alexander Zverev.
Alcaraz reached the 37th tour-level final of his career and his fifth final of the year while extending his ATP 500 winning streak to 25 matches.
The second seed took the opening set after Medvedev double-faulted to hand him set point, but the Russian responded strongly in the second to force a tiebreak.
With neither player able to gain a decisive advantage, Alcaraz produced a barrage of powerful groundstrokes in the breaker to seal victory in 96 minutes.
The result gave Alcaraz a measure of revenge after Medvedev handed him his first defeat of the season in the Indian Wells semi-finals in March, and ended the Russian’s seven-match winning streak.
Both players are among the four men who have already qualified for next month’s ATP Finals.
De Minaur earned one of the biggest wins of his career, defeating world number one elect Zverev 6-4 1-6 7-6(4) to reach the Vienna final for the first time.
The Australian improved to 10-0 indoors this season, kept alive his hopes of qualifying for next month’s ATP Finals and advanced to the 23rd tour-level final of his career.
De Minaur halted Zverev’s winning run and denied the German a place in the final days after it was confirmed he would move top of the world rankings on Monday.
Alcaraz and De Minaur will meet in Sunday’s final.
(Reporting by Karan Prashant Saxena in Bengaluru; editing by Clare Fallon and Ed Osmond)
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