Sinner Rolls Over De Minaur, Into Second Vienna Final In Three Years

Jannik Sinner
Jannik Sinner: (photo: e-motion/Bildagentur Zolles KG/Christian Hofer)

VIENNA/WASHINGTON, October 25, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

In a sport that is defined by its matchups, Jannik Sinner has dominated Alex de Minaur on court throughout the duration of their respective careers, going all the way back to their very first meeting in 2019 at the Next Gen ATP Finals, in which the Italian won the title. While it’s not quite like Novak Djokovic‘s 20-0 dominance over Gaël Monfils, it ranks right up there as one of the biggest lop-sided rivalries on the ATP Tour.

On Saturday, in their 12th career meeting, the top-seeded Sinner defeated No. 3 seed de Minaur, again – for the 12th-straight time. His 6-3, 6-4 semifinal victory,  completed in one hour and 27 minutes, lifted the South Tyrolean into his second ATP 500 Erste Bank Open final in three years. The 2023 Vienna champion jumped out to an early double-break 4-0 lead against the Australian No. 1, which set the tempo for the entire semifinal on Center Court inside the Wiener Stadthalle, which was filled to its 9,600-seat capacity.

The World No. 2 Sinner, who won the 2023 Erste Bank Open title, came into Saturday’s first semifinal riding high on a 19-match winning streak on indoor hard courts, aiming to become only the ninth man to record 20 straight indoor hard-court victories. He took an 11-0 head-to-head lead against de Minaur with an eye toward reaching his eighth final of the season in just his 10th tournament played this season.

Now, after his latest conquest of de Minaur, the Italian No. 1 can check all the boxes. His indoor hard-court winning streak improved to 20 straight and he’s safely through to his eighth title match of the season. Additionally, Sinner has strung together nine-straight victories in Vienna and Saturday’s triumph was his 61st victory in his last 67 matches.

During his on-court interview with ATP Media, Sinner was asked about winning his fourth match of the week – all in straight sets – and what it, along with his media responsibilities and desire to please his fans, might have taken out of him. His response: “A bit, yes, of course. At the same time, the biggest expectation is for myself. I play for myself. I play for my team. Just trying to put on the best performance I can. … I’ve tried to take every day in the best possible way. I’m happy to be in the final. It was not easy but I’m very happy.”

Earlier this season, Sinner defeated de Minaur in the Australian Open quarterfinals and, more recently, in the Beijing semifinals. Now, after his latest victory over de Minaur, he’s 3-0 in 2025 against the Sydneysider – and has lost just one set.

Sinner, who won all 27 of his service games in his earlier-round matches against Daniel Altmaier, Fabio Cobolli and Alexander Bublik, finally faced a break point against de Minaur, during his third service game of the match. He was broken after netting a backhand return that ended a 13-shot rally. However, Sinner recovered nicely and went on to win the 44-minute opening set 6-3, with an overhead smash winner – his seventh winner of the match.

In the second set, Sinner broke de Minaur at love to go ahead 3-2, benefiting from an untimely double fault. But the Aussie wasn’t ready to concede. Instead, de Minaur broke back in the next game to level matters at 3-all. However, Sinner immediately got the break back. He was lifted by a forehand drive-volley winner and an unforced error by de Minaur that put him ahead for good at 4-3.

Then, Sinner consolidated the break with his third ace to further his advantage at 5-3. A game later, Sinner closed out his 47th victory in his 53rd match of the season at love with an ace, an un-returnable serve, an overhead smash winner and an unforced error by de Minaur. 

Sinner completed his semifinal victory with 18 winners, which included four aces, and made 21 unforced errors. He won 74 percent (28 of 38) first-serve points, was broken twice, converted four of five break-point opportunities and outpointed de Minaur 61-46. De Minaur countered with 14 winners but also committed 27 unforced errors. He won just 52 percent (15 of 29) of his first-serve points.

Although de Minaur came in leading the ATP Tour in hard courts wins this season (40) and in ATP 500 wins since the start of the 2023 season (48), he was unable to contain Sinner and his search for a second Top 10 victory this season after defeating World No. 3 Alexander Zverev at the Laver Cup last month was denied.

“I was trying to play some good tennis,” Sinner said. “Trying to serve well. First set was very physical. I’m happy I won in two sets today.”

Looking back, the scoreline might have been harsh, but Sinner simply had too much power for de Minaur to handle on this day.

In the second semifinal, the No. 2 seed Zverev of Germany eased past No. 4 seed Lorenzo Musetti of Italy, 6-4, 7-5, in an hour and 32 minutes to advance to Sunday’s title match against Sinner. Although Zverev leads the head-to-head 4-3, Sinner has won their last two meetings, including the final of this year’s Australian Open.

By reaching the Vienna semifinals, Zverev qualified for his eighth Nitto ATP Finals in the last nine years. Now, he is through to his 40th tour-level final, becoming just the second German man to achieve the feat in the Open Era after Boris Becker in 1977. Zverev won the 2021 Vienna title.

Meanwhile, Musetti brought a 3-1 lifetime win-loss record into the semifinal against Zverev, aiming to reach his third ATP 500 final. However, Zverev converted two of four break points and didn’t face any break points on his own serve. Zverev, whose ninth ace of the match secured the last four victory, outpointed Musetti 65.57. 

“I found a little bit of confidence in my body and myself a little bit,” Zverev said during his on-court interview with ATP Media. “I felt like today was a good match. Happy with the win and happy to be in the final playing against Jannik now.”

Around the Wiener Stadthalle

With only two seeded doubles teams remaining – and facing each other in one semifinal – at least one unseeded team will make it to Sunday’s title match.

In the first semifinal, unseeded Francisco Cabral of Portugal and Lucas Miedler of Austria defeated Yuki Bhambri of India and Andre Goransson of Sweden, 6-4, 7-6 (5), in 91 minutes. It was their 43rd win of the season. Cabral and Miedler have won two ATP Tour titles this season, at Gstaad and Hangzhou, as well as a couple of ATP Challenger Tour crowns, at Madrid and Bordeaux.

The second semifinal was won by No. 2 seeds Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool of Great Britain, who needed a match tie-break to defeat No. 3 seeds Harri Heliovaara of Finland and Henry Patten of Great Britain, 4-6, 6-3, 10-5, in one hour and 15 minutes. The victory was the 55th of 2025 for Cash and Glasspool, who have won titles in Brisbane, Doha, Queen’s Club, Eastbourne, Wimbledon and Toronto this season and were finalists at Miami, Monte-Carlo and ‘s-Hertogenbosch.

Saturday’s Erste Bank Open results

Sunday’s Erste Bank order of play

By the numbers

This is only the fourth time in Erste Bank Open tournament history that all of the Top-4 seeds – No. 1 Jannik Sinner, No. 2 Alexander Zverev, No. 3 Alex de Minaur, No. 4 Lorenzo Musetti – have advanced to the semifinals.

“Quotable …”

“Happy to be in the final. It was not easy. I hope I can recover in the best possible way. Hopefully, I’m ready for the next one. Tomorrow is going to be a very difficult one. I’m here. I’m very happy. We all hope for a great final.”

– Top seed Jannik Sinner of Italy, during his on-court interview with ATP Media, following his straight-set semifinal victory over Alex de Minaur.

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