Vienna (AFP) – The Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz dominated the Australian Alex de Minaur in two stages on Sunday in the final in Vienna, first dominant then clinical, to offer himself a second title since his return to competition at the end of August after a four and a half month break.
Published on: 01/11/2026 - 16:45
Winner at the start of the season at the Australian Open and the Doha tournament, Carlos Alcaraz was away from the courts between mid-April and the end of August due to a right wrist injury.
But since his return to competition at the US Open, the Spaniard has won 15 of his 17 tournament matches (plus one success in the Laver Cup), with a quarter-final in New York lost against American Ben Shelton and a title in Tokyo in early October.
After a first setback at the Masters 1000 in Shanghai, released in the round of 16 by the Belgian Zizou Bergs, the seven-time Grand Slam winner - Australian Open 2026, Roland-Garros 2024 and 2025, Wimbledon 2023 and 2024 and US Open 2022 and 2025 - returned to the front row in Vienna this week.
On Sunday, he completely smothered Alex de Minaur, whom he had beaten in their six previous encounters, the last before Vienna at the Australian Open earlier this year in the quarter-final.
In the first set, he quickly led 4-0 by twice taking the Australian's serve, before concluding 6-1 with another break in just 36 minutes of play.
Full of confidence
The second set was much tighter, but Alcaraz jumped on his first set point, once again on De Minaur's serve, to conclude in 1h27 with a winning forehand hitting the baseline.
With five victories without losing a single set, he arrives full of confidence in Paris for the last Masters 1000 of the season next week, and the end-of-year Masters in Turin. Last season, he stopped in the 2nd round in Paris (beaten by the Briton Cameron Norrie) and failed in the final of the Masters against the Italian Jannik Sinner.
But Sinner has not played tennis again since his Wimbledon coronation in July, due to tendinopathy of the right knee and inflammation around the iliotibial band and prematurely ended his season, leaving from Monday the throne of world No.1 to the German Alexander Zverev, winner of Roland-Garros and the US Open this season.
In the race for the end-of-year Masters, reserved for the eight best of the season, Alex de Minaur performed the best operation this week, moving up to 9th place (the last qualifier with Sinner's injury) before the Masters 1000 in Paris.
© 2026 AFP
The content you are trying to access does not exist or is no longer available.
