De Minaur survives Vienna scare as Ruud and Rune escape in Basel

De Minaur digs out of trouble in Vienna

Alex de Minaur kept his Nitto ATP Finals hopes alive on Monday, storming back from a set and a break down to beat Tomas Machac 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the first round of the Erste Bank Open in Vienna. The fifth seed and world No. 10 looked headed for an early exit when Machac raced through the opening set and moved 4-2 ahead in the second, but de Minaur won the last four games of that set and broke three times in the decider.

A match that turned in minutes

The early stages belonged entirely to Machac. The Czech qualifier, a former top-20 player, was hitting winners freely, and de Minaur was struggling badly on serve. At a set and a break down, with his season-ending hopes on the line, de Minaur needed something to change quickly, and it did. He held serve under pressure, broke Machac in a long, three-deuce game, survived another testing service game, and then broke again to steal the second set.

That swing changed the match. In the deciding set, de Minaur's returning took over, and he closed out a near-two-hour win with an ace.

"I have dug deep, found a way to get a crucial break when I needed it and the momentum changed," de Minaur said afterwards.

The Finals race stays open

The win matters far beyond one first-round result. De Minaur began the Vienna week tenth in the standings for the eight-man finale in Turin, and with Jannik Sinner's competitive season over, a place inside the top nine is enough to qualify. A first-round defeat would have been a serious blow with so few events left. Instead, he lives to fight another day, and his next opponent in the last 16 is American Learner Tien, who also won on Monday.

Tien beat France's Luca Van Assche 6-3, 6-1, setting up a meeting with de Minaur that now carries real weight for the Australian's Turin hopes.

Mensik cruises as Vienna's seeds mostly hold

Elsewhere in Vienna, the seeded players largely avoided trouble. Eighth seed Jakub Mensik cruised past Austrian Lukas Neumayer 6-2, 6-2 in 63 minutes, barely giving the home qualifier a look at a break point. It was the kind of efficient, untroubled win that top players want at the start of a busy indoor week.

Italians Matteo Berrettini and Luciano Darderi also advanced in straight sets, while Arthur Fery led Jacob Fearnley 5-1 when Fearnley retired.

Ruud survives a home favourite in Basel

In Basel, ninth seed Casper Ruud also had to come from behind in the first round of the Swiss Indoors. The Norwegian outlasted Swiss wild card Dominic Stricker 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, despite Stricker producing the better numbers in several departments. Stricker finished with a 13-12 edge in aces, more winners by 37-29, and fewer unforced errors, 18 to Ruud's 26, but he could not break Ruud's serve across the final two sets, and that proved decisive.

Ruud levelled the match 7-5, then pulled away in the decider as Stricker's level dipped just enough.

Rune wins an ace barrage in Basel

The most dramatic match of the day in Basel belonged to Holger Rune. The Dane withstood 32 aces from France's Quentin Halys and emerged with a 6-4, 6-7(2), 7-6(5) victory in two hours and 40 minutes, his first ATP-level win since his comeback from Achilles surgery. Rune hit 13 aces of his own, saved all five break points he faced, and showed remarkable composure in a final-set tiebreak that almost slipped away.

Rune led that tiebreak 5-1, only for Halys to level at 5-5. A Halys double fault at 5-5 opened the door, and Rune converted his only match point with a half-volley. The former world No. 4 improved to 11-3 lifetime in Basel, where he reached the final on his debut in 2022.

German lucky loser Daniel Altmaier also beat Argentine qualifier Juan Manuel Cerundolo 6-7(5), 7-6(4), 6-4, while Portugal's Nuno Borges and Monaco's Valentin Vacherot won in straight sets.

What Monday means for the week ahead

Monday's results set up a fascinating week in both cities. In Vienna, de Minaur's comeback keeps the Turin race alive ahead of his meeting with Tien, while Mensik, Berrettini and Darderi will believe they can go deep. In Basel, Ruud and Rune both survived very different tests.

Neither tournament will be won in the first round. But first rounds can end seasons, and on Monday, the players who most needed to survive did exactly that.