Jannik Sinner beat Tomas Machac 6-4 7-5 in 1 hour and 44 minutes to reach his first final at the Shanghai Masters 1000 tournament.
Sinner ensured that he will end as the ATP Year-End number 1 player. He is the first Italian player to achieve this feat.
Sinner is the third world number 1 to reach the Shanghai final following in the footsteps of Novak Djokovic in 2015, and Rafael Nadal, who finished runner-up to Roger Federer in 2017.
“It’s amazing. It’s something that you dream of when you are a kid, when you are young. Just to reach the world number 1. Having the year-end it’s also a different and special feeling. This happens during the tournament is going to be an important day, but it means so much to me obviously and something that I would not accomplish without all the people I have around. The family and friends are big credit to my team”, said Sinner.
Sinner claimed the 64th match win of the season to set up a final against the winner of the second semifinal between Novak Djokovic and Taylor Fritz. The two-time Grand Slam champion is chasing his seventh title of the season and the third at Masters 1000 level. He won the Australian Open, Rotterdam, Miami, Halle, Cincinnati and the US Open.
Machac broke Sinner in the first game of the opening set with a forehand return down the line. It was the second time that Sinner dropped his serve in this tournament. Machach backed up his serve by holding serve at 30 for 2-0. Sinner held serve at love in the third game with two aces.
Sinner hit a forehand pass crosscourt to earn a break-back point in the fourth game. The Italian player broke serve with a backhand down the line to draw level to 2-2. The World number 1 player broke serve in the 10th game to clinch the first set 6-4.
In the second set Sinner repelled a Machac forehand volley with a backhand volley winner and hit a second serve to hold for 4-3 after 43 minutes. Machac sent a forehand return and hit a backhand winner to earn a break point in the ninth game. Sinner fended it off with a crosscourt backhand. Sinner saved a second break point with a forehand winner down the line. Sinner held serve to take a 5-4 lead. Machac held serve to draw level to 5-5, but he made his 33rdunforced error to face a match point at 5-6. Sinner sealed the win with a smash.
both players went on serve until the 12th game, when Machac committed his 10th forehand error to face a set point in the 10th game. Sinner committed just three unforced errors, 13 fewer than Machac.
Sinner broke for the second time with a winner to close out the second set 7-5 after 44 minutes booking his spot in Sunday’s final. Sinner converted three of the seven break points he earned. The Italian star has improved to 2-0 in his head-to-head series against Machac after beating his Czech opponent at the Miami Masters 1000 tournament.
Sinner is 54-0 against players players outside the top 20 dating back to the 2023 US Open.
Machac won the Olympic gold medal in the mixed doubles tournament with Karolina Siniakova. On the ATP Tour he beat Novak Djokovic in Geneva and Carlos Alcaraz in the Shanghai quarter final.
“I think we all saw how much talent he has, how much firepower he can produce. I had to be very careful in every service game, because he returns very aggressively and very fast. I just tried to stay there every point, to see what was going to happen, like you saw in the last game. Just every point with the maximum intensity I could, so I am very happy to be in the final again”, said Sinner.
