ATP Tour

Alcaraz repels Basilashvili’s 4 set points in Vienna, books QF spot

Carlos Alcaraz earned a victory of two starkly contrasting halves to reach his 60th tour-level quarter-final on Thursday at the Erste Bank Open.

The No. 3 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, Alcaraz held off a second-set resurgence from Nikoloz Basilashvili to claim a 6-1, 7-6(11) triumph in Vienna. Basilashvili entered the clash having won 14 of his past 17 matches and recovered from a difficult start to hand Alcaraz a stern test, but the Spaniard raised his level in trademark fashion just when he needed it for a one-hour, 41-minute win.

Alcaraz had reeled off seven consecutive games from 1-1 in the first set to take complete control of Thursday’s encounter inside the Wiener Stadthalle, producing some typically showstopping all-court tennis. But he then let slip a break lead in the second set as last week’s Almaty finalist Basilashvili dug deep, and was forced to save four set points in the subsequent tie-break before converting his fourth match point for his 23rd consecutive win at ATP 500 level.

“I would say I played great, overall, from the beginning to the last point," Alcaraz said. "I played great tennis and I’m really happy with the performance that I did today. In the first set I was hitting the ball unbelievably and was feeling great on the court. I felt like he couldn’t play his style. Then in the second set I started pretty well, the same as the first set, but that game at 3-2, serving at him with a couple of mistakes, and he raised his level.

“I let him get into the match again. After that I would say it was really close. He was playing great, and obviously that tie-break. He had three easy balls to win the set, and I had three easy balls to win the match. I ended up missing the chances, but I’m just really happy with the way that I fought back.”

Next up for Alcaraz in Vienna is a last-eight meeting with Tommy Paul, who earlier raced past Luciano Darderi 6-1, 6-1. Alcaraz leads the seventh-seeded Paul 7-2 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series and defeated the American in straight sets at both the Australian Open and US Open this year.

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Paul is currently 12th in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, although his countryman Taylor Fritz could reclaim that position if he wins his second-round match in Basel on Thursday. Regardless, the 29-year-old Paul remains in outside contention to earn a debut qualification for the Nitto ATP Finals.

Daniil Medvedev also boosted his hopes of reaching the prestigious season finale, to be held in Turin from 15 to 22 November, with a second-round victory in Vienna. The former World No. 1 saved a match point on return when trailing Cameron Norrie 4-5, 40/30 in the third set before notching a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(1) triumph.

Now into his 100th tour-level quarter-final (only the second man born since 1990 to achieve that feat after Alexander Zverev), Medvedev will meet qualifier Adrian Mannarino in the last eight. Medvedev is fifth in the Live Race, 551 points clear of Rafael Jodar in ninth, which is the qualification cutoff.