Jannik Sinner has begun his quest to become Italy’s first ATP Finals champion with a convincing win over Alex de Minaur.
Sinner, who is the first player from his country to be seeded first in the tournament’s 55-year history, eased his way to a 6-3, 6-4, win over the Australian. Registering his 13th win over a top-10 player since the start of January. The world No.1 fired 19 winners (12 more than his rival) to extend his perfect head-to-head record against de Minaur to 8-0.
“I’m very happy,” Sinner said after playing his first Tour-level match in four weeks.
“I started off with some unforced errors. He (de Minaur) was playing great at the beginning of the match.
“I just tried to stay there mentally, knowing that hopefully at some point my tennis will arrive.
“I started to return very well. The serve, for sure I have to improve but today I’m very pleased about the win and hopefully, this can give me confidence for the next one (match).”
Taking to the court in front of a packed crowd, Sinner was tested early on by debutant de Minaur who broke him three games into their clash. Despite the blip, the top seed got back on track immediately with the help of an eight-point winning streak to move ahead for a 4-2 lead. In control of proceedings, he clinched the opener with the help of a forehand error from his opponent on set point.
There was a brief half to proceedings early on in the second frame after a member of the crowd required medical assistance. At the time Sinner had a triple chance to break for a 3-2 lead. When play resumed, he missed all three of those chances before prevailing on his fourth opportunity with a deep return that forced another error from de Minaur. Closing in on victory, Sinner served out the match to love.
“I love to play at home. It’s a huge, huge honor,” said Sinner.
“I didn’t play Rome and this was my first time (playing) in Italy (this year).
“The welcome was very warm and amazing. I can’t wait for the next match.”
The 23-year-old is currently on a seven-match winning streak after winning the Shanghai Masters last month. He is bidding to claim his eighth title in 2024 in Turin which will be the most won within a season on the ATP Tour since Andy Murray won nine events in 2016. Sinner is currently tied with Alexander Zverev for most matches won this year at 66.
Sinner’s next test in Turin will be on Tuesday against Taylor Fritz, who beat a frustrated Daniil Medvedev in straight sets earlier in the day. It will be their first meeting since the US Open final which the Italian won in straight sets.
“I’m excited because I think after I played him at the (US) Open, I played Carlos (Alcaraz) the next week at Laver Cup, I played Novak (Djokovic) right after in Shanghai. I feel like those three matches I learned a lot about what I kind ofneeded to I guess improve on, get better at, if I want to hang with those guys.” Fritz said ahead of his showdown with Sinner.
“I think I’ve done a good job since then kind of working on those things and improving.
“I’m excited at the opportunity to see if what I’ve been doing will help me.”
Sinner leads Fritz 2-1 in their head-to-head.
