Alexander Zverev had to work harder than expected to start the Erste Bank Open in Vienna. The world No. 2 beat Spain's Martin Landaluce 7-5 3-6 7-6(11) in his opening match, after a 34-game contest settled by a tie-break that went all the way to 13-11.
The figure speaks for itself: according to the site's results page, it is the match with the most games of this edition. Of the twelve matches played so far, two went to a tie-break and four to a deciding set, and Zverev-Landaluce is the longest of them all.
Why does it matter? Zverev is No. 2 in the ATP ranking with 9,800 live points, 650 fewer than Jannik Sinner and 4,140 more than Carlos Alcaraz. Vienna is also the tournament where he has a final to defend: in 2025 he reached the title match and lost to Sinner 3-6 6-3 7-5, and those 330 points expire with the 2026 edition.
The count is already moving. On the site's player page Zverev has 50 more points than at the start of the tournament, because he has reached the round of 16. Winning the next round, which means the quarter-finals, would take him to 9,850; winning the title would put him on 10,250.
On to the match. Zverev won the first set 7-5, then Landaluce, who is twenty and a half years old, levelled with a 6-3 that reopened everything and reminded Vienna how much indoor hard courts can reward those who dare. From that point the German could only prepare for a battle.
The third set was an exercise in nerves. It went to a tie-break, where the points piled up one after the other until 13-11. In the end the German's experience made the difference: between 2021 and 2025 he played fifteen finals in the tournaments the site tracks, winning eight of them.
For Landaluce it remains a bitter defeat, but not a step backwards. He is No. 68 with 822 points and his career-high ranking is No. 60, reached on 3 July 2026. This year he reached the round of 16 at Cincinnati, a Masters 1000, and made the final of the Jinan Challenger 125, where he lost to Mattia Bellucci 6-2 4-6 6-3.
Last week in Lyon he had also lost in three sets, to Stan Wawrinka: 6-3 6-7(2) 7-6(5). Two long battles in a few days show that the level is there, and that the difference comes down to handling the few points that decide tight matches.
For his part, Zverev has solid numbers. In 2025 he finished with 51 wins and 21 losses in the main-tour events the site follows, and one title. In 2026 he won the US Open, beating Ben Shelton in the final 6-3 7-6(2) 5-7 6-2, and reached the Wimbledon final, lost to Sinner 6-7(7) 7-6(2) 6-3 6-4.
His recent form is good: in his last 30 matches he has 25 wins and 5 losses, and 8 wins and 2 losses in his last ten. In Shanghai he reached the semi-finals, beating Yibing Wu 6-4 7-6(4), Quentin Halys 6-4 6-7(8) 6-3, Alexander Bublik 7-6(6) 4-6 7-6(1) and Alex De Minaur 6-4 6-4, before falling to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 5-7 6-4 6-3.
In Beijing, a few weeks earlier, he had stopped in the quarter-finals against Novak Djokovic, 4-6 6-4 6-4. Vienna is also a place of good memories for him: in 2021 he won the title beating Frances Tiafoe 7-5 6-4, and the roll of honour shows the trophy going from Medvedev in 2022 to Sinner in 2023 and 2025, with Jack Draper in between, in 2024.
The rest of the draw is taking shape. Alcaraz, No. 3 with 5,660 points, beat Karen Khachanov 6-4 7-6(5) and is also in the round of 16. Tommy Paul beat Andrey Rublev 7-5 6-2, Cameron Norrie eliminated Francisco Cerundolo 6-4 6-1 and Flavio Cobolli got the better of Grigor Dimitrov 6-4 3-6 6-3.
Three Italians are already in the round of 16. Matteo Berrettini won 6-3 6-4 against Tomas Martin Etcheverry, Luciano Darderi beat Matteo Arnaldi 7-5 6-2 and Cobolli got past Dimitrov. On Thursday 29 October Paul and Darderi play at 10:00, while at 13:00 Cobolli meets Berrettini himself: an Italian is guaranteed a place in the quarter-finals.
Wednesday 28 October has a busy schedule: Tallon Griekspoor against Brandon Nakashima and Daniil Medvedev against Daniel Merida Aguilar at 13:30, then Lorenzo Musetti against Tiafoe at 15:00. At 16:30 Jakub Mensik, who beat Lukas Neumayer 6-2 6-2, faces Adrian Mannarino, and at 20:00 Learner Tien meets De Minaur.
Among the results already in the books is also Mannarino's comeback: he beat Ignacio Buse 0-6 7-5 6-4 after losing the first set without winning a game. De Minaur got past Tomas Machac 1-6 6-4 6-3, while Arthur Fery went through when Jacob Fearnley retired at 5-1.
For Zverev, the question now is simple: how much fuel did such a long match leave in the tank? His round-of-16 opponent is not yet listed in the site's order of play, but whoever it is, the German will have to recover quickly if he wants to truly defend those 330 points and stay in second place.
Test yourself
3 questions on what you have just read.
1. How many games did Zverev-Landaluce last?
2. What was the score of the third-set tie-break?
3. Who beat Zverev in the 2025 Vienna final?