Jannik Sinner and Alexander Bublik renewed their entertaining rivalry on Friday evening at the Erste Bank Open, with the top-seeded Italian triumphing 6-4, 6-4 to move within two wins of his fourth title of 2025.
Sinner lost to Bublik in Halle in June, but has since put the 28-year-old to the sword. The world number 2 lost just three matches on his way to a fourth-round victory at the US Open in September and was close to his best again on Friday evening in Vienna.
The 24-year-old smothered the world number 16 with his brutal striking and achieved a performance rating of 9.23, which combines In Attack, Conversion, Steal and Shot Quality to demonstrate the overall level of performance. Sinner achieved a performance rating of 9.61 in his 58-minute first-round victory against Daniel Altmaier, which was his second-highest rating of the season. Sinner now leads Bublik 6-2 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series following his quarter-final win.
“It’s a tough, tough match. I’m very happy,” Sinner said. “I tried to return as many balls as possible, I felt like he served great today. I’m happy that I had some chances. In the beginning of the first set I had a few but I couldn’t use them, but I’m happy that I could stay there mentally. He’s a very dangerous player, but I tried to stay as solid as possible, so I’m very happy.”
Sinner won the trophy in his previous appearance in Vienna in 2023 and is 15-4 at the event, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index. The 24-year-old has also won his past 19 indoor matches and will meet Alex de Minaur in the semi-finals.
The Australian defeated Matteo Berrettini 6-1, 7-6(4) to claim his 53rd win of the season. Only Carlos Alcaraz has recorded more victories on the Tour in 2025. De Minaur has also reached four ATP 500 semi-finals this year, giving Alcaraz the most appearances at that point. The 26-year-old captured the ATP 500 title in Washington.
De Minaur recovered from wasting a match point on serve at 5-4 against Berrettini and eventually won in the second set tie-break to improve to 2-3 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with the Italian.
De Minaur is seventh in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, 500 points ahead of ninth-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime, who retired from his quarter-final in Basel on Friday. De Minaur is chasing his second appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals.
One man who will be in Turin is Alexander Zverev. The two-time end-of-season champion sealed his place by reaching the semi-finals in Vienna. The German did not even take the field on Friday, with Tallon Greekpoor withdrawing prior to the match due to a back injury.
Zverev is seeking his second title in Vienna after winning in 2021. The number 3 in the world will play Lorenzo Musetti or Corentin Moutet in the last four.
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