Jannik Sinner on Sunday started his bid for a first ATP Finals title with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Alex de Minaur as former champion Daniil Medvedev lost his head during his defeat to Taylor Fritz.
Italian Sinner delighted supporters in Turin with a comfortable win over Finals debutant De Minaur to move first in the Ilie Nastase Group.
The world No. 1 closed out a routine victory in emphatic fashion with a perfect service game and basked in the applause of his home fans after smashing an ace to finish in style.
Photo: AFP
“It’s a great start for my side for this event, for this tournament, considering I haven’t played for four weeks an official match. I’m glad that I managed to play this kind of level today,” Sinner told reporters.
Sinner, who this year won five ATP titles and two Grand Slams, has been dogged by controversy after twice testing positive for traces of the steroid clostebol in March.
He was initially cleared by the International Tennis Integrity Agency, but at the end of September the World Anti-Doping Agency appealed, seeking a ban of up to two years.
Photo: AFP
Today, Sinner faces Fritz, whose 6-4, 6-3 win over Medvedev was overshadowed by his opponent boiling with rage at a subpar performance.
Champion in 2020 and finalist the following year, world No. 4 Medvedev destroyed his racket after going a set down and things went from bad to worse when Fritz broke serve to take a 4-2 lead in the second set.
Medvedev was docked a penalty point for throwing his racket at a courtside microphone and during game seven of the second set he held a new racket by its head while waiting for Fritz’s serve.
After the match Medvedev, whose behavior was jeered by the crowd, replied “100 percent” when asked if he was hoping for the end of the season to come along.
“I’m tired to fight against something that doesn’t depend on myself,” he told reporters. “I’ll see how it goes. Today actually I had my chances. I’ll have them the next matches. If it doesn’t work out, I go on holiday. I’m happy.”
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