Alex De Minaur beat Matteo Berrettini 6-1 7-6 (7-4) after 1 hour and 43 minutes to reach the semifinal at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna.
Berrettini led 3-1 in his previous head-to-head matches against De Minaur.
De Minaur will face the winner of the quarter final match between Jannik Sinner and Alexander Bublik. De Minaur hit 21 winners to 33 unforced errors.
De Minaur faced a break point in the first game of the opening set before earning two breaks of serve in the second and fourth games to race out to a 4-0 lead. The Australian player served out the opening set 6-1 on his second set point in the seventh game in less than half an hour.
De Minaur earned three break points in the first game of the second set, but Berrettini saved them to hold serve on the second deuce. De Minaur earned a break in the third game after Berrettini made a forehand error. Berrettini broke straight back in the fourth game to draw level to 2-2. De Minaur earned his second break in the seventh game with a backhand passing shot winner. Berrettini saved a match point in the ninth game before breaking back with a backhand return to draw level to 5-5, as De Minaur was serving for the match at 5-4.
After a trade of mini-breaks at the start of the tie-break. De Minaur earned two mini-breaks to open up a 5-1 lead. Berrettini pulled one mini-break back to reduce the deficit to 2-5. De Minaur earned four match points at 6-2. Berrettini saved two match points but De Minaur sealed the win on his third opportunity with a backhand volley.
De Minaur reached his fifth semifinal this year. He won in Washington and reached the final in Rotterdam and the semifinals in Monte-Carlo and Beijiing.
