Jannik Sinner wins the Erste Bank Open in Vienna, while Felix Auger-Aliassime successfully defends his title in Basel; head to the Sky Sports website and app, for live scores, reports, analysis and features
Sunday 29 October 2023 18:22, UK
Jannik Sinner upset Daniil Medvedev to win the Erste Bank Open in Vienna, while Felix Auger-Aliassime successfully defended his title in Basel on Sunday.
Sinner, who defeated Medvedev in the final of the China Open in Beijing at the start of October, ensured history would repeat itself in Vienna with a hard-fought 7-6 (9-7) 4-6 6-3 victory in three hours and five minutes.
The Italian saved two set points in the first before taking it on a tie-break and, after Medvedev had hit back to force a decider, Sinner gained the crucial break of serve in the fourth game, converting his ninth break point.
"It took a lot of mental and physical stuff," said Sinner. "I think we both served very well the first set. I managed somehow to get back on serve when he was a break up, because I felt like he was serving really good. I found a way in the first set.
"Second set, I felt like he was trying to get into the rally a little bit more and I was hustling a little bit. In the third set I tried to step up a little bit. I had a lot of break points, I couldn't use them and then at the end I used them so I'm very happy. Obviously to finish the match, it was really a mental thing, but I'm very happy about how I managed today and very happy for another title."
In Switzerland, Canada's Auger-Aliassime successfully defended his Swiss Indoors Basel title with a 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-5) victory over Hubert Hurkacz.
"I'm definitely back. I let my racket talk. That's always been the motto of my career. I've had the conviction that I can be a top player since I'm a kid, but there were many doubts this year about my performances and why," said Auger-Aliassime, who is the first Canadian to defend an ATP Tour title since Milos Raonic won the San Jose title in 2011 and 2012..
"I'm happy that I was able to prove to everybody that I still belong among the best players in the world, that I can play this level. I never doubted it, but it's good to confirm it on the court."
Brazil's Beatriz Haddad Maia battled China's Qinwen Zheng for two hours and 51 minutes before emerging with the WTA Elite Trophy championship in Zhuhai, China.
Haddad Maia, the eighth seed, topped the seventh-seeded Zheng 7-6 (13-11) 7-6 (7-4) in the longest tour-level straight-sets match this season.
Haddad Maia not only earned her third WTA Tour career singles victory on Sunday, she also won the doubles title as the top seed with Veronika Kudermetova of Russia. They defeated No 2 seeds Miyu Kato of Japan and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia, 6-3 6-3.
Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, Jannik Sinner and Andrey Rublev will all compete in Paris and they've all qualified for the season-ending ATP Finals in Turin.
The final three qualifying spots are currently occupied by Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev and Holger Rune, though they will be pressured by the likes of Taylor Fritz, Hubert Hurkacz and Casper Ruud at the season's final ATP Masters 1000.
Britain's Cameron Norrie and Dan Evans are both ruled out of the tournament through injury, but Andy Murray is back in action, although he will face Alex de Minaur in the first round.
Murray, who won in the French capital in 2016, has lost to De Minaur in all five of their meetings.
