Sinner wins but host of players retire in Basel

With a dominant straight-set victory over Alexander Bublik, Jannik Sinner advanced to the semi-finals of the Vienna Open.

Italian world number two Sinner was only able to defend his fourth title of the year with just one break in the second set.

For a place in the final, four-time Grand Slam champion Sinner will face Australia’s Alex de Minaur, who only managed to score five points on serve throughout the entire contest.

The 24-year-old has won 60 of his past 66 matches, falling short of Carlos Alcaraz’ position as the top-ranked men’s player in the US Open final.

Sinner, the world number 16, defeated the Kazakh at the Australian Open and Wimbledon champion on Friday, but the Kazakh was untouchable.

In all of his service games, Sinner consistently put pressure on Bublik and was successful in taking two of his eight break points.

Sinner won this title on his previous appearance in 2023, and he has a 19-match winning streak on indoor hard courts and a seven-match winning streak in Vienna.

De Minaur, who lost to Matteo Berrettini in the semi-finals, won 6-1 7-6 (7-4).

After Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor withdrew from their quarter-final match, German world number three Alexander Zverev also advanced to Vienna.

With that outcome, Zverev, who is second overall in Vienna, joins Alcaraz, Sinner, and Novak Djokovic as the top four players to advance to the ATP Finals in November.

On Saturday, Zverev will face Lorenzo Musetti, the fourth-seeded Italian, or Corentin Moutet, the fourth-seeded Frenchman.

Three of the four quarter-finals scheduled for Friday were ultimately ended as walkovers at the Swiss Indoors.

Casper Ruud of Norway, who had lost a first-set tie-break to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, decided against playing him, and Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime retired after Jaume Munar of Spain, who had won the first set 6-3, decided against him.

After falling 3-6, 6-3, 4-1 behind the Brazilian, Denis Shapovalov and Joao Fonseca shook hands.

Ugo Humbert defeated American Reilly Opelka 7-6 (7-0) 6-4 in the only match that has yet to be played in Basel.

In recent weeks, several well-known players have experienced premature end of their careers.

British tennis player Jack Draper earlier in October called for the calendar to be changed in order for players “to achieve some sort of longevity” after Holger Rune suffered a serious injury.