ATP Tour

Vienna finalist Sinner becomes first since Djokovic to achieve this feat...

Another tournament, another final for Jannik Sinner.

The No. 2 player in the PIF ATP Rankings swept past Alex de Minaur 6-3, 6-4 Saturday to reach the championship match at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna. By making his eighth final of the year, the Italian became the first man to reach that many finals in back-to-back seasons since Novak Djokovic in 2015-16.

"[I] came here quite late to the tournament, tried to take every day in the best possible way and I'm happy to be here in the final," Sinner said in his post-match interview. "It was not easy to [reach] the final here, so I'm very happy."

Sinner entered the semi-finals having not faced a break point in his first three matches at the ATP 500. Although the Italian lost serve twice against the Australian, he never panicked and set a clash for the trophy against second seed Alexander Zverev or fourth seed Lorenzo Musetti.

It was always going to be a tough test for De Minaur, who walked on court with an 0-11 Lexus ATP Head2Head record against Sinner. When the top seed broke in his first return game of the match, it was clear De Minaur had a big mountain to climb.

"[I was] trying to play some good tennis, trying to serve very well. The first set was very physical, so I'm happy that I won in two sets today," Sinner said. "He changed a couple of things, which I was ready for today.

"I don't want to say [what]. He knows. He knows for sure. He knows what to do, how to put [me] under pressure and the moment when you don't serve very well, you have to play every ball and every point. He can get very physical, he changed up with the slice a bit with also the slice down the line today and opening the court. Many small things he has changed."

The third seed produced some stunning shotmaking and used his blazing speed to try to fend off Sinner and his unrelenting power baseline game. But the Australian struggled to do enough damage with his serve, winning only 52 per cent of his first-serve points, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

"Generally I'm happy how I handled [the match]. I was a break up in the second, broke him back, tried to stay there mentally," Sinner said. "Very happy about today's performance and always happy again to be in the final."

Without facing that pressure, Sinner was able to swing freely to work his way into another final. After winning titles at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and Beijing this season, he will try to add another trophy to his collection Sunday.

JANNIK. BUILT. DIFFERENT. 🤖

Sinner clinches his 20th straight indoor hard court win to reach his 8th final of the season! 👏@ErsteBankOpen | #ErsteBankOpen | @janniksin pic.twitter.com/3c17dnXQkL

— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 25, 2025

Sinner has made the final in eight of the 10 tournaments he has played in 2025, with the only exceptions being Halle and Shanghai. The 24-year-old is also trying to keep alive his hopes of earning ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by PIF honours, with Carlos Alcaraz in firm control of that battle.

Sinner has not lost a set this year in Vienna and now owns a 16-4 record at the tournament. He lifted the trophy in his most recent appearance, in 2023.