Carlos Alcaraz continued his impressive start to his European indoor hard-court season on Saturday afternoon in Vienna, where he downed his fellow former World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev in a heavyweight semi-final clash.
The second-seeded Alcaraz prevailed 6-4, 7-6(2) to reach his fifth tour-level final of the season and simultaneously end Medvedev’s seven-match winning streak. In a tightly fought contest, the way Alcaraz was clinical at key moments proved decisive, and he finished having converted three of four break points he earned, according to Infosys ATP Stats.
“It’s a great feeling, beating someone like Daniil on an indoor court, after the [run] he was having,” Alcaraz said. “A lot of wins in a row, a lot of confidence and I was able to beat him, so it is special. I’ve been working really hard in every aspect of my game, to try and be in good shape for this tournament and to try to give myself another chance to go far in a tournament.
“I’m really happy to have the chance to play another final, and my first one here in Vienna. I will try to make the most of the time to recover well physically mentally for tomorrow. It’s been a great week and I’m looking forward to it.”
There was a similarity between the two sets Alcaraz won against Medvedev inside the Wiener Stadthalle. The pair exchanged breaks of serve early in both, but in the first it was the Spaniard who subsequently found another breakthrough on return. In the second set, Medvedev held firm to force a tie-break, but Alcaraz produced a barrage of huge groundstrokes to close out the win after 96 minutes.
Now 25-0 at ATP 500 level since his defeat in the 2025 Barcelona final, Alcaraz will take on top seed Alexander Zverev or fifth seed Alex de Minaur in Sunday’s championship match. Alcaraz has won four of his past five Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings with Zverev, who on Monday will rise to No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings for the first time, while the Spaniard has won all six of his tour-level clashes against De Minaur.
Meanwhile Medvedev will now head to France for the Rolex Paris Masters. Despite his semi-final disappointment, the 30-year-old enjoyed a productive week in Vienna to back up his title run at the Almaty Open: By reaching the last four in Austria, he secured his qualification for the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals.
