Source :- THE AGE NEWS
Alex de Minaur’s bid for a maiden Vienna title has fallen one match short, succumbing to the buzz saw that is Carlos Alcaraz, but the Australian continues to chase a spot in the tour finals.
De Minaur, who eliminated new world No.1 Alexander Zverev a day earlier in a thrilling three-set semi-final, has revived his hopes of qualifying for the end-of-year finals with his late-season heroics, including reaching the Beijing final in September.
But de Minaur was playing catch-up from the start against Alcaraz in the Vienna final after dropping serve from 40-0 in the opening game, eventually losing to his Spanish foe for the seventh time in as many meetings, 6-1, 6-4.
It is Alcaraz’s second title in four events since returning from a serious wrist injury that sidelined him for more than four months.
“Let me start off with Carlitos. Well done to you, and your team. It’s great to have you back on tour. I know all the fans appreciate it,” de Minaur said in his post-final speech.
“I will say one thing, though: it is very annoying to play against you. But as I’ve said many times, you’re one of the good ones, one of the great guys on tour, so thank you very much, and amazing week.
“As for myself, it’s been a great week. I feel very much at home here in Vienna … it’s been an interesting year – lots of highs, a couple of lows – but I’m proud to be standing up here and still fighting.
“I’m excited for what’s left for this year, and hopefully, I can continue pushing and have a longer year.”
De Minaur has endured a mixed season, including early exits at Roland-Garros and the US Open, plus a disappointing fourth-round loss to Flavio Cobolli at Wimbledon, and appeared highly unlikely to return to the tour finals in Turin.
However, Jannik Sinner’s season-ending knee injury opened a spot in the Turin field at the same time de Minaur’s form ticked up.
He retired from the Beijing final against Novak Djokovic with an adductor issue, but any fears of a serious setback were allayed when he played a week later in Shanghai.
De Minaur was down a set and a break in his opening match in Vienna to talented Czech Tomas Machac, but he survived that battle then ousted American Learner Tien and Matteo Berrettini – who has proven problematic for him throughout his career – before his statement 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (7-4) triumph over Zverev.
That Zverev win not only booked de Minaur a Vienna final berth, but also secured him a seven-figure payout as the winner of this year’s ATP 500 bonus pool.
Just as important was him edging ahead by a single point of Spain’s Rafael Jodar in the race to Turin.
Victory over Alcaraz would have significantly extended that buffer, but it was not to be. The last qualifier will be decided at the upcoming Paris Masters, where de Minaur will play the winner between Andrey Rublev and Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the second round.
De Minaur’s clash with Alcaraz was their first since this year’s Australian Open quarter-finals, where the latter withstood the home-country hope’s early fireworks to breezed to a straight-sets success.
De Minaur was on the verge of a perfect start in Vienna, including delivering an ace on the first point, but lost five points in a row to hand over an instant break as the former world No.1 gave him an immediate reminder of the size of his challenge.
The problem in his match-up for the 27-year-old is he has little choice but to take extra risks to remain in the contest, which inevitably leads to an uncharacteristic number of errors.
Alcaraz offered de Minaur the chance for an instant break back, but quickly slammed the door then broke the Australian again with a sizzling backhand crosscourt pass winner to take a stranglehold on what became a lopsided opening set.
It took a six-minute hold of serve for de Minaur to finally get on the scoreboard in the fifth game, but he won fewer than 50 per cent of his first-serve points and lost serve three times in going a set down.
It was a similar story when they met in last year’s Rotterdam final, but de Minaur managed to snatch the second set to at least claw his way into the match.
He could not repeat that feat despite showing genuine resilience in set two in Vienna to fend off break points in the second, fourth and eighth games to reach four-all and figuratively keep his head above water.
The last of those break points was de Minaur at his fighting best, stubbornly hanging in against an Alcaraz onslaught before producing a magnificent forehand lob on the run that swung the point in his favour.
But it was not the impetus for an unlikely comeback, with Alcaraz continuing to dictate proceedings.
The match ended similarly to how it started as de Minaur collapsed from a strong position on serve at 4-5. Alcaraz needed just one match point, ripping a ferocious crosscourt forehand through his opponent’s defences to clinch his first Vienna title.
“My team and I know pretty well Alex’s level and style. He’s really dangerous,” Alcaraz said.
“You have to earn every point, and you might hit a winner against everybody except him, so I had to be really careful with that … so we knew that I had to start the match really focused and trying to be aggressive and show him that if he wants to win, he has to play better, more aggressive, more solid, and be smarter than me.
“I’m really happy that at the end I found a way and just played great. It’s been a really emotional and amazing week for me.”
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