On Thursday 29 October the Erste Bank Open in Vienna moves into high gear with six round-of-16 matches in a single day, and one of the most anticipated stars Carlos Alcaraz. The world No. 3 takes the court at 3pm against Nikoloz Basilashvili, the Georgian veteran who arrives in Vienna climbing the rankings.
The event is an ATP 500 on indoor hard court, which began on Monday 26 October with 32 players in the draw from 15 nations. So far 18 matches have been played: six tie-breaks, five that went to a deciding set, just one set finished 6-0 and one retirement, that of Jacob Fearnley against Arthur Fery with the Frenchman ahead 5-1.
Two last-16 matches are already in the books. Adrian Mannarino beat Jakub Mensik 6-4 7-5, while Alex De Minaur dispatched Learner Tien 6-4 6-2: they are the first two quarter-finalists. Today completes the picture, and the schedule is packed: Tommy Paul against Luciano Darderi and Cameron Norrie against Daniil Medvedev at 1:30pm, then Alcaraz-Basilashvili, Fery against Lorenzo Musetti at 5pm, Alexander Zverev against Tallon Griekspoor at 5:30pm and, in the evening, Flavio Cobolli against Matteo Berrettini at 8pm.
Let's start with Alcaraz. The Spaniard opened in Vienna with a straight-sets win over Karen Khachanov: 6-4 7-6(5), with the second set decided by a tie-break. It was no stroll, but it confirms solid form: he has won eight and lost two of his last ten matches, and over the last 30 the record is 26 wins and 4 defeats.
His two recent setbacks illustrate the level of the competition well. At the Shanghai Masters 1000 Alcaraz was stopped in the third round by Zizou Bergs, 7-5 7-6(4). At the US Open, meanwhile, he went out in the quarter-finals against Ben Shelton after five sets: 6-7(5) 6-1 6-3 1-6 7-6(7), a match settled by two points in the final tie-break.
In between came the Tokyo title, his most recent 500: in the final he beat Jiri Lehecka 7-6(4) 6-4, after coming back to beat Jaume Munar in the semi-finals, 5-7 6-3 6-1. In 2025 Alcaraz finished with 64 wins, 7 defeats and eight titles, numbers that explain why he starts every match as the favourite.
In the rankings Alcaraz is No. 3 with 5,660 points, including the 50 he earned by reaching the last 16. Ahead of him are Jannik Sinner with 10,450 and Zverev with 9,800; behind him is Shelton, 930 points away. If he wins today he will move up to 5,710, and with the title, worth 500 points, he would reach 6,110.
On the other side of the net the story is different. Basilashvili was born on 23 February 1992 and is 34, yet his autumn has been a small revival. On 26 October he touched No. 95 and today he is No. 96 with 631 points, 37 places higher than on 9 September.
The push came from three weeks of good tennis. In Chengdu he reached the semi-finals by beating Botic van de Zandschulp 6-4 7-5, Jenson Brooksby 6-4 7-6(4) and, in the third round, Miomir Kecmanovic 7-6(3) 6-4, before bowing to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 4-6 6-4 6-3. In Almaty he came even closer to the title.
In the Kazakh event Basilashvili eliminated Marin Cilic 6-2 7-5, Facundo Diaz Acosta 6-2 6-4 and Mannarino 6-3 6-1, then Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semi-finals with a 6-4 6-7(5) 6-3. In the final he lost to Medvedev, but only in the third set: 6-7 6-1 6-3. In Vienna he began by beating Jurij Rodionov 7-6(3) 6-1.
His 2026 has not been straightforward: in Shanghai he lost in the first round to Mannarino. In his last ten matches, though, he has won seven and lost three. In the main-tour events followed by the site, between 2021 and 2025 he totalled 35 wins in 85 matches, with two titles and four finals.
The head-to-head with Alcaraz leaves little room for optimism: it is 2-0 to the Spaniard, who has never dropped a set. The first meeting was in the second round of Roland Garros 2021, won by Alcaraz 6-4 6-2 6-4; the second in the third round of the Madrid Masters 1000 in 2022, 6-3 7-5. More than four years have passed and in the meantime the Spaniard has won the 2025 US Open, while the Georgian has dropped down to the Challengers: in 2026 he also played the one in Guangzhou.
In ranking terms, today is already worth something to Basilashvili. The last 16 secured him 50 points, and an upset would earn him the quarter-final, with 100 points at stake: for him, with 631, it would be a nice step towards consolidating his climb.
Vienna is a tournament that rewards champions. Last year Sinner won the title beating Zverev in the final 3-6 6-3 7-5, and before him the trophy went to Jack Draper in 2024, Sinner again in 2023, Medvedev in 2022 and Zverev in 2021. Sinner and Zverev, as champion and finalist, were the two players with the most points to defend in this edition.
The context today is very Italian: five Italians in the draw, four still in the running. Darderi, Musetti, Cobolli and Berrettini all play their last-16 matches, and the longest match of the tournament so far is Zverev's, who got past Landaluce 7-5 3-6 7-6(11) in 34 games. An Italian in the quarter-finals is guaranteed anyway, because Cobolli and Berrettini face each other.
What to watch in the 3pm match? Basilashvili's serve and Alcaraz's ability to vary pace and height of the ball. If the Georgian manages to hold his service games without conceding break points, he can at least try to take the match into a long set.
The picture will be clearer after the last 16. Whoever goes through will find a quarter-final worth 100 points, then semi-finals worth 200, the final worth 330 and the title worth 500. For Alcaraz, at a stage of the season when energy matters too, winning without too many sets would be almost more valuable than the result itself.
Test yourself
3 questions on what you have just read.
1. What was the score of Alcaraz's win over Khachanov in Vienna?
2. How many of their meetings has Alcaraz won against Basilashvili?
3. Who beat Basilashvili in the Almaty final?