De Minaur pulls off massive comeback to improve ATP FInals hopes

It had looked like goodnight Vienna for Alex de Minaur as he trailed Tomas Machac by a set, a break and 0-30 on his own misfiring serve.

Machac, a top 20 player last year, was fizzing winners onto the lines and Australia's number one seemed to have no answer to his excellence.

The Czech was six points from victory and de Minaur's chances of making the end-of-season ATP Finals were receding rapidly as a first-round exit loomed in the Austrian capital.

But Demon never quits. He won the next four points to hold, then broke Machac in a three-deuce game. He then survived a break point on his next service game, which lasted nearly nine minutes, then broke again to take the set.

Machac broke immediately in the third set but it was a last hurrah. De Minaur took the next five games before completing a near-two-hour 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 win with an ace.

De Minaur greeted Monday's victory with a roar of delight, relief and vindication. The 27-year-old has made a career out of comebacks but few have been such a turnaround as this.

"For three-quarters of that match it was very tough for me," he said. "I have dug deep, found a way to get a crucial break when I needed it, and the momentum changed."

Referring to his recent run to the final in Beijing, and a narrow quarterfinal loss to Alexander Zverev in Shanghai, he added: "The last couple of tournaments I've learned a lot about myself and was able to draw on those situations and come out with some big serves when I needed it."

De Minaur began Vienna's ATP 500 event tenth in the standings for the season's Turin finale and, with Jannik Sinner's competitive season over, needs to be in the top nine to qualify.

AAP