Alex de Minaur kept his Nitto ATP Finals hopes alive with a hard-fought comeback victory over Tomas Machac at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna, recovering from a difficult start to win 1-6, 6-4, 6-3.
The Australian, who is currently 10th in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, looked in trouble as Machac took control early. The Czech qualifier dominated the opening set 6-1 and moved ahead 4-2 in the second, putting De Minaur under considerable pressure.
Machac's powerful groundstrokes proved difficult to handle under the indoor conditions, leaving De Minaur struggling to find opportunities to turn the match around.
“He’s incredibly talented,” De Minaur said of his opponent. “He’s got that ability to hit through the court... he wasn’t giving me any chance.”
However, De Minaur gradually found his rhythm and began putting more pressure on Machac's serve. The turning point came when he converted his seventh break point of the second set to close the gap to 4-3. The Australian went on to win the set 6-4, forcing a decider and shifting the momentum in his favour.
Machac briefly regained the advantage by breaking De Minaur in the opening game of the third set, but the Australian responded immediately. He won five consecutive games to take control before sealing the victory with an ace after two hours and three minutes on court.
The win keeps De Minaur in contention for a place at the season-ending ATP Finals in Turin, where the top eight players in the race qualify. He has also recorded 18 ATP 500 match wins in 2026, the most on the tour this season.
De Minaur will next face either Learner Tien or Luca Van Assche as he looks to continue his run in Vienna and collect more valuable ranking points.
Elsewhere, Matteo Berrettini made a confident start to his campaign by defeating Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-3, 6-4. The Italian, who reached the Vienna semi-finals in 2019, controlled the match to advance in straight sets.
Berrettini now faces a potentially tougher second-round challenge against either fourth seed Flavio Cobolli or former world No. 3 Grigor Dimitrov. His opening victory gives him an opportunity to build momentum as the tournament progresses.