De Minaur reaches 350th win, sets up Zverev semi-final in Vienna

Alex de Minaur marked his 350th tour-level win with a 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 victory over Matteo Berrettini in the Vienna Open quarter-finals, setting up a semi-final against the world No 1-elect Alexander Zverev.

The result at the Wiener Stadthalle made the world No 10 the ninth Australian man to reach the 350-win milestone, and continued his recent hold over Berrettini, whom he has now beaten in this same quarter-final for a second successive year.

De Minaur had to work for the opening set, saving a set point at 5-6 before taking control of the tiebreak after Berrettini netted a routine put-away. He saved break points early in the second set, then broke the Italian for the first time in the next game when Berrettini missed an attempted smash entirely.

From there the world No 48 had no answer, with de Minaur closing out victory in an hour and three-quarters to reach the Vienna semi-finals for a third straight year. The win also keeps alive his push for a place at the season-ending ATP Finals, a target that remains unresolved.

He will meet Zverev for the third time in just over a month, after the German eased past Britain's Arthur Fery 6-0 6-2 in 58 minutes in Friday's other quarter-final.

It was Zverev's first match since he officially became world No 1 following Thursday's 6-4 7-5 win over Tallon Griekspoor, and he underlined the ranking change by winning the first eight games against Fery before the British No 35 avoided a double bagel.

Fery had looked below his best throughout, having received treatment on his leg late in his three-set win over Lorenzo Musetti in the previous round. According to the BBC, Zverev dropped only six points on serve and converted five of nine break points created against the Briton.

Speaking to Tennis TV afterwards, Zverev said he had felt in control from early on. "Yeah, I definitely felt good," he said. "I think Arthur is a bit of a different opponent than I had yesterday. He doesn't have the same firepower, but he plays tactically extremely well, and he is extremely fast."

Zverev was keen to credit Fery's broader season despite the one-sided scoreline. "I know the score was 6-0 6-2, but he should not put himself down too much. It is his first year on the Tour and he is doing amazing things," he said, according to the BBC.

The result repeated the pattern of their only previous meeting, Zverev's straight-sets win over Fery in the Wimbledon semi-final in July, which ended the Briton's run at that tournament. Fery had again defied expectations in Vienna by beating the former world No 5 Musetti to reach the last eight.

Zverev is chasing a third title of the season having already won the French Open and the US Open, form that has helped him move above Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, both affected by injury this year, to the top of the rankings. He becomes the second German man to top the ATP standings after Boris Becker in 1991.

De Minaur and Zverev meet in Saturday's semi-final in Vienna, their third encounter in little over a month, with a place in the final at stake.