Jannik Sinner early yesterday edged toward becoming the first Italian to reach the last four of the ATP Finals after a thrilling 7-5, 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/2) win over Novak Djokovic.
World No. 4 Sinner needed a straight-sets victory in front of enthusiastic home support in Turin over tennis icon Djokovic to guarantee passage from the Green Group with a match to spare.
While the 22-year-old could not quite make that happen, a superb performance gave him his first win in four attempts over Djokovic, who is bidding to win for a record seventh time at the year-ending tournament.
Photo: AFP
“It means a lot to me,” Sinner said on court. “When you win against the world No. 1 who has won 24 Grand Slams it’s obviously in the top-top.”
Fans made an almighty din for Sinner, chanting his name to the rafters once he claimed victory in an exciting, three-hour contest that started on Tuesday night and ran way past midnight at the Pala Alpitour.
Sinner has had the best year of his career and looks to be fulfilling the promise he has long shown, winning four titles this season, including the Masters 1000 event at Toronto, and looks on form in Italy.
Photo: AFP
He made the first breakthrough when he capitalized on Djokovic handing him an advantage in game 11 with a double fault, moving 6-5 ahead with a big backhand before claiming the set with a service game to love.
Djokovic pulled level after a bruising second set in which neither player faced a single break point, but after fighting back from 4-2 down in the decider he wilted in the tie-break and ended his winning run at 20 matches.
“In these kinds of matches very few opportunities will be presented and if you don’t use them then the other player will,” Djokovic said. “Some you win some you lose... I don’t think I’ve done too many things wrong in terms of my game, he was just more decisive and courageous in the moments where he needed to be.”
Both players’ fate are to be decided in the final round of group matches, with Djokovic facing Hubert Hurkacz, who has stepped in for Stefanos Tsitsipas after the Greek pulled out of the tournament with a back injury against Sinner’s next opponent Holger Rune.
Rune benefited from having played just three games before being awarded a straight-sets win.
Tsitsipas was trailing the opening set of his match with Finals debutant Rune 2-1 when he was forced to quit, handing his opponent his first ever win in the tournament.
The sixth seed was loudly booed by the crowd who saw barely one-quarter of an hour of singles play in the afternoon session, fans angered by him playing despite persistent rumors of injury.
“I’m gutted that I wasn’t able to finish the match,” Tsitsipas, 25, told reporters.
“My doctors and the countless visits that I had in the last few days suggested that I play... Unfortunately I felt terrible on the court. I did what I could do in best possible way to be ready and fit for this match, but it didn’t work out for me,” he said.
Tsitsipas said that after pulling out he had felt problems during his warm-up and that once on the court he felt too much pain to complete the match.
“I’ve gone through pain during matches in the past ... but this was clearly too much to handle and I had to take the difficult decision to do what I did,” he said.
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