By Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, October 29, 2026
Photo credit: Simon Bruty/USTA
Some players teeter on the tie break tight rope.
Carlos Alcaraz twirls up showtime shotmaking on tennis’ high wire.
An inspired Alcaraz reeled off nine of the first 11 games then saved four set points in the tie break beating back hard-hitting Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-1, 7-6(11) to burst into the Vienna quarterfinals.
Exuding calm creativity amid tie break stress, Alcaraz dabbed a knee buckling drop shot winner to save set point at 6-7 in the tie break.
On his fourth set point, the bearded Basilashvili hit Alcaraz off the court with an aggressive approach, but was jammed up on a short volley. Instead of volleying to the open court, Basilashvili tried to drop volley behind Alcaraz, who easily caught up to it and belted a backhand pass down the line leveling at 8-8.
Alcaraz converted his fourth match point on an errant forehand closing an entertaining one hour, 40-minute victory.
“I would say I played great,” Alcaraz said in his on-court interview. “I think I played great tennis. [I am] really happy with the performance that I did today.
“The first set I was feeling the ball unbelievable. I was feeling great on the court. I was feeling like he couldn’t play his style, he couldn’t damage in my game.”
The second-seeded Alcaraz improved to 35-5 on the season, including his 30th hard-court win. Alcaraz joins former No. 1 Daniil Medvedev (40) and year-end world No. 1 Alexander Zverev (34) as the third man to register 30 hard-court wins this year.
Playing for his fourth title of the season, Tokyo champion Alcaraz raised his record to 13-0 at the ATP 500-level this season. Alcaraz has not lost a 500-level match since bowing to Holger Rune in the 2025 Barcelona final—a streak of 23 consecutive ATP 500 level victories.
Flashing force and finesse helped Alcaraz take the first break. Reading the wide serve, Alcaraz crushed a crosscourt forehand return for a break point.
In the 16-shot rally that followed, Alcaraz dipped some low slice coaxing an errant backhand down the line to break for 3-1 after 17 minutes.
Alcaraz threw down a love hold in two minutes stretching his lead to 4-1.
Turning his hips and shoulders into jolting crosscourt forehands, Alcaraz repeatedly ripped drives into the corner gaining triple break point in the sixth game. A Basilashvili miss gave Alcaraz his second straight break and a 5-1 advantage.
Australian Open champion Alcaraz wrapped the 29-minute opener on a five-game run.
World No. 3 Alcaraz tore through nine of the first 11 games roaring out to a 6-1, 3-1 lead.
Credit Basilashvili for resetting and helping create cracks in the Spaniard’s vaunted forehand. Alcaraz sailed a forehand to surrender serve in the sixth game. Basilashvili was hitting with conviction, holding for his third straight game and a 4-3 lead.
Confronting a couple of break points, Basilashvili landed a slightly mis-hit forehand on the baseline to save the second as he tamed trouble to hold for 5-4.
Blasting an ace down the middle, Alcaraz forced the tie break after 81 minutes.
In a dizzying and dramatic tie break, Basilashvili held double set point at 6-4, but missed successive forehands, including narrowly missing a forehand return on the first set point.
On the bearded baseline blaster’s third set point, Alcaraz actually buckled Basilashvili’s knees with a brilliant forehand drop shot winner to level, 7-All.
The fourth set point is one Basilashvili will likely rue for a very long time. Hammering a deep, angled approach, he was in position for the set-ending volley, but was handcuffed and left an attempted drop volley sitting up.
A streaking Alcaraz banged a backhand pass down the line erasing the fourth set point for 8-All.
“Second set I started pretty well, then suddenly that 3-2 game serving I made a couple of mistakes, he raised his level and I let him into the match again,” Alcaraz said. “After that it was really close. He was playing great.
“The tie breaker he had pretty easy balls to win the set, I had pretty easy balls to win the match. Ended up missing, but just happy the way I fought back and winning in straight sets.”
Next up for Alcaraz is a familiar face in American Tommy Paul.
The seventh-seeded Paul broke serve five times thrashing Italian Luciano Darderi 6-1, 6-1. Paul served 69 percent, won 21 of 22 first-serve points and dropped only four points on serve in an emphatic 48-minute annihilation.
Alcaraz, who is is 7-2 lifetime vs. Paul, is hunting for his 28th career title, including his fourth championship of this season.
Former No. 1 Daniil Medvedev saved a match point down 3-5 in the final set, sparking a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(1) comeback conquest of Cameron Norrie.
The third-seeded Medvedev belted 48 winners—22 more than Norrie—scoring his ATP-best 40th hard-court win of the season.
It is the sixth straight win for Medvedev, who defended a championship for the first time in his career in Almaty on Sunday. A red-hot Medvedev is 18-2 since September 26th.
The 30-year-old Medvedev reached his 100th career quarterfinal and will face another left-hander, Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, for a spot in the semifinals.
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