Jannik Sinner is one win away from defending his title at the ATP Finals after overcoming a spirited performance from Alex de Minaur in the semi-finals on Saturday.
The top seed was tested early on by 26-year-old De Minaur before clinching a 7-5, 6-2 victory in Turin. Sinner has now won 30 consecutive matches on indoor hardcourts at ATP events, which is a milestone that has been achieved by only four other players in the Open Era. He is also the second player, after Novak Djokovic, to reach the ATP Finals championship match without dropping serve in the entire tournament. The Tour started recording serve statistics in 1991.
“I’m very happy. The last event of the year, and it is great to finish in this way,” said Sinner.
“It was a very tough match, especially at the beginning of the first set. I felt like he was serving great.
“In the second set, I had the break very early and then my level raised. I tried to be a bit more aggressive, which worked very well.”
Sinner, who has now won 14 out of 16 matches played at the event, was particularly impressive behind his first serve, winning 84% of those points. Furthermore, he produced 30 winners against 22 unforced errors.
“I felt that last year, at the end of the year, I was serving much better than throughout the year. This year has been similar.” He commented.
“I hope that we (his team) will work a lot in the pre-season to be ready for next for the next season.
“Hopefully, I can also serve like this throughout the season.“
Coming into the match, Sinner boasted a perfect 12-0 record against his rival, dropping only two sets against him, one of them earlier this year in China. However, de Minaur recently received a confidence boost in Turin after beating Taylor Fritz to claim his first win over a top-10 player outside a team event this season.
As a result, the latest clash started with a tense opening set with little to distinguish between the two players at times. Sinner saw seven break point chances come and go against the Australian, who produced a spirited display. It wasn’t until 61 minutes into the match that Sinner broke for the first time for a 6-5 lead by firing a deep backhand winner. Then, in the following game, he sealed the opener by hitting a serve out wide that De Minaur returned out.
The Italian dealt his next blow at the start of the second frame by breaking for a second time with a double-handed backhand winner down the line as De Minaur was seen looking towards his camp and shrugging his shoulders. From that stage onwards, it was a Sinner Masterclass who won 17 out of 22 points played to open up a 4-0 lead. Surging towards victory, he closed the match out with a forehand winner.
“Making three consecutive finals here in Turin means a lot to me,” Sinner reflected.
“It’s a great atmosphere, great place for me to play tennis, and also a great place to close this beautiful season.”
Sinner joins Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic as the only players to reach all four Grand Slam finals and the ATP Finals final within the same season. Awaiting him next will be either nemesis Carlos Alcaraz, who recently took the year-end No.1 title from him, or Felix Auger-Aliassime. Alcaraz is Sinner’s Achilles heel, having won seven out of their past eight meetings on the Tour. The only exception was at Wimbledon.
“I will obviously try my best to have the best possible result. But in any case, it has been an amazing week,” he said ahead of the final.
At the age of 24, Sinner is the youngest man to reach the year-end finals for a third time since Leyton Hewitt in 2004.
