World No. 1-bound Zverev loses to De Minaur

Alexander Zverev lost his first match since securing the men’s world number one ranking, falling to Alex de Minaur in a semi-final upset at the Vienna Open. German top seed Zverev, who will replace Jannik Sinner at the summit of the men’s rankings on Monday, lost 4-6 6-1 6-7 (4-7) to the Australian fifth seed. Victory means 27-year-old De Minaur has leapfrogged Spain’s Rafael Jodar in the race to qualify for the season-ending ATP Finals.

“Super proud with how I handled the situation,” said De Minaur “I played on my terms. I was going to go out swinging and playing the right type of tennis, and that’s what made the difference today. ” After losing the first set, Zverev overpowered De Minaur in the second before a hard-fought decider. With neither player able to create a break point opportunity, it was De Minaur who held his nerve in the resulting tie-break as he wrapped up victory inside two hours and 30 minutes. De Minaur will face Spanish second seed Carlos Alcaraz in the final after he beat Daniil Medvedev in…