Sinner battles back to beat Zverev and claim Vienna title
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Jannik Sinner could temporarily climb to world No. 1 in the ATP rankings at the Paris Masters.The Italian, who beat Alexander Zverev to win the Vienna Open on Sunday, is currently 840 points behind world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz.
But Alcaraz, having not played in Vienna, will lose 100 points from his total after he reached the last 16 at last year’s Paris Masters.
Sinner will not discard any points because he did not play in Paris last year, and as a result could pick up 1000 with victory in the French capital.
To overtake Alcaraz in the rankings, then, Sinner must win the Paris Masters and the Spaniard must progress no further than the quarter-finals.
If Alcaraz makes it to the last four, he will retain his place as the world No. 1 for the time being.
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But even if Sinner does leapfrog his rival, it could only be temporary. He has 1500 points to defend at next month’s Nitto ATP Finals in Turin, having won the tournament last year, while Alcaraz has just 200 to discard.
That means the latter could be back to world No. 1 after Turin regardless of the outcome in Paris.
Still, there is clear motivation for Sinner to usurp Alcaraz at the final ATP 1000 Masters event of the year.
The pair have traded blows in a fierce rivalry throughout 2025, meeting in three of the four Grand Slam finals, with memorable battles at the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open.
Alcaraz prevailed at Roland-Garros and Flushing Meadows, while Sinner won a first Wimbledon title.
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Sinner, though, is yet to win an ATP 1000 Masters tournament this year. Alcaraz has three: the Monte-Carlo Masters, Italian Open and Cincinnati Open.
The South Tyrol native heads to Paris in strong form, though, after overcoming Zverev in Austria in a match that required him to “stick in there mentally”.
“It feels amazing,” an exhausted Sinner said after winning 3-6 6-3 7-5. “It was such a difficult start in the final for me. Down a break… I had some chances in the first set, couldn’t use them.
“He was serving very, very well. I tried to stick in there mentally. Trying to play my best tennis when it counts. Third set was a bit of a rollercoaster. I was feeling very well the ball at times. I tried to push. I’m very happy to win another title. It’s very special.”
He added: “The most important is trying to not give up. Trying to stay there. Trying to see what the situation is. I just tried to make the right choices at the right time.
“I think that was the key today. Serving well, saving energy in my service games was important too. It was a very great performance from me, but I feel like it was from both sides.”
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