De Minaur stuns new number one Zverev in Vienna

Alex de Minaur has been left celebrating what could prove one of the most significant wins of his battling career, downing the about to be crowned world number one Alexander Zverev with a fearless display of attacking tennis to reach the Vienna Open final.The Australian number one played a fabulous deciding tiebreaker, brushing off a couple of double faults to keep the pressure on the two-time major champion and eventually prevail 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (4) to set up a championship match with Carlos Alcaraz at the Wiener Stadthalle.Saturday's victory had extra importance as it pushed de Minaur back among the top-eight qualifiers to make the end-of-season men's championship, the ATP Finals, in the live "Race to Turin" with just the Paris Masters now to come as a qualifying event.But for de Minaur, it will resonate even more as one of his biggest wins as he had never before beaten Zverev, who will become the world number one when next week's rankings come out, in an individual tournament, with his only previous victories having come in early-season team events and the exhibition-like Laver Cup."I'm super proud, super stoked of how I handled the moment. I was very calm, even though I threw in a couple of doubles there," De Minaur said, as he thought about how he had battled back to regain control."All in all, I played a very aggressive deciding tiebreak. I played on my terms. I was going to go out swinging and playing the right type of tennis, and that's what made the difference today."It was an exceptional display from the world number 10 as he played with a striking front-foot intensity that seemed to shock Zverev.Germany's Alexander Zverev was unsettled by his opponent's tenacity and aggression. (Getty Images: PS Images/MB Media/Yigit Oerme)The German's mood was fairly tetchy all afternoon as the Australian kept up his aggressive approach, complete with 25 winners in total.Only when de Minaur's serving let him down in the second set did Zverev gain some familiar dominance, but the Sydneysider regrouped superbly in a high-quality deciding set.The extent to which Zverev was rattled became obvious as he served at 5-6 to stay in the match and raged at the umpire Arnaud Gabas, who had rightly given him a time violation for his interminable ball-bouncing before serving.Remarkably, Gabas decided to take back the sanction after Zverev had remonstrated but the fuss did not stop de Minaur's focus as he went on to win the first three points of the tiebreak with brilliant strokeplay that gave him control even when he coughed up his doubles.But if beating Zverev was special, then defeating Alcaraz, who had beaten Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 7-6 (2) in the earlier semi-final, looks set to be the ultimate challenge for the Australian.The pair have met six times before, with de Minaur having lost all half-dozen, including at this year's Australian Open.Asked what it would mean if he could win the ATP 500 event, de Minaur smiled: "It would be a pretty decent week, I would say."I'm just happy with what I'm doing, the way I'm competing, the way I'm going about my business. Just one foot in front of the other, doing what I can."Ultimately I'm playing some good tennis, looking forward to hopefully finishing strong this season."AAP