Jannik Sinner has been in fine form recently. The Italian hit the accelerator at the end of each set. He cruised past Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-4 on Tuesday to close in on a semi-final spot at the ATP Finals in Turin. Sinner had to overcome loud home support to win his final meeting with the American in September, when he defeated him in straight sets in the US Open final.
This time, the Turin audience closely followed the Italians. The fifth-ranked USA ace applied pressure to the World No.1’s serve early in the first set. The American grabbed the match’s first break point in the 14 minutes of the seventh game. But he failed to capitalise. The Italian fought back immediately but squandered three break opportunities in the following match before breaking to 15 in the 10th game to win the set.
Victory sent Sinner to the top of the Ilie Nastase group, leaving just Daniil Medvedev to face. Even if the home favourite loses in straight sets, she may still be eliminated. The final match of the group stage will be interesting as the Russian lost his first game against Fritz making it difficult for qualification despite winning the second. Fritz has an outside chance of becoming second in the group.
Jannik Sinner is the ‘New King’ of the ATP
His last match is against Alex de Minaur who has lost both his matches so far. The Russian, who lost his first group-stage match to Fritz, overpowered De Minaur to push his Australian opponent. Is Jannik Sinner riding a weak draw? Sinner said, “I was struggling to return his serve but I am happy with how I handled the situation. It was a very tough match.”
He further added, “We got to know each other very well in a Grand Slam final, we knew exactly what to expect today it was very aggressive as I was prepared for.” The Italian has been suffering with several charges of doping and might also face some ban if it turns out to be true.
