Alex de Minaur came back from a set and 4-2 down to beat Tomáš Macháč 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the first round of the Erste Bank Open in Vienna on Monday, a win that kept his hopes of reaching the ATP Finals in Turin firmly alive.
Vienna, Austria: For long stretches of the afternoon the match looked like a lost cause for the fifth seed. Macháč, a qualifier, had taken the first set 6-1 and led by a break in the second, and De Minaur was left to search for a way back into an ATP 500 event he could ill afford to leave early.
Down a set and a break
Macháč led 6-1, 4-2 and was two games from victory when De Minaur finally found a foothold. He broke serve for the first time in the match to cut the deficit to 3-4 in the second set, then kept going. From 4-2 down, he won four games in a row to take the set 6-4 and level the match.
The decider turns
The third set began badly, with De Minaur dropping serve in the opening game. The response settled the contest. He won the next five games, broke Macháč in the decider and closed out the match after about two hours on court. He said afterwards that it had been very tough for much of the match and that he had to dig deep to find the crucial break.
Why the win matters
The stakes were clear. De Minaur is 10th in the ATP Live Race to Turin, and a first-round loss would have been a major setback to his hopes of reaching the season-ending Finals. Three weeks earlier he had retired injured in the China Open final against Novak Djokovic in Beijing, so a win of this kind, earned the hard way, carried extra value.
He now moves into the second round in Vienna with a place in the Race to Turin still to fight for.
Result: Alex de Minaur (AUS, 5) bt Tomáš Macháč (CZE, Q) 1-6, 6-4, 6-3
Event: Erste Bank Open (ATP 500), first round, Vienna, Monday 26 October 2026
