  Let $G$ be a graph with adjacency matrix $A(G)$ and let $D(G)$ be the
diagonal matrix of the degrees of $G$. For any real $\alpha\in [0,1]$,
Nikiforov [Merging the $A$- and $Q$-spectral theories, Appl. Anal. Discrete
Math. 11 (2017) 81--107] defined the matrix $A_{\alpha}(G)$ as
$A_{\alpha}(G)=\alpha D(G)+(1-\alpha)A(G).$ Let $u$ and $v$ be two vertices of
a connected graph $G$. Suppose that $u$ and $v$ are connected by a path
$w_0(=v)w_1\cdots w_{s-1}w_s(=u)$ where $d(w_i)=2$ for $1\leq i\leq s-1$. Let
$G_{p,s,q}(u,v)$ be the graph obtained by attaching the paths $P_p$ to $u$ and
$P_q$ to $v$. Let $s=0,1$. Nikiforov and Rojo [On the $\alpha$-index of graphs
with pendent paths, Linear Algebra Appl. 550 (2018) 87--104] conjectured that
$\rho_{\alpha}(G_{p,s,q}(u,v))<\rho_{\alpha}(G_{p-1,s,q+1}(u,v))$ if $p\geq
q+2.$ In this paper, we confirm the conjecture. As applications, firstly, the
extremal graph with maximal $A_{\alpha}$-spectral radius with fixed order and
cut vertices is characterized. Secondly, we characterize the extremal tree
which attains the maximal $A_{\alpha}$-spectral radius with fixed order and
matching number. These results generalize some known results.
