World number 1 Jannik Sinner scored a second victory at the ATP Finals on Tuesday in Turin. He held off the American Taylor Fritz (ATP 5) well to win in straight sets, 6-4 6-4.
Despite his flawless performance since the start of the “masters tournament”, Sinner, 23, will have to wait until Thursday and his match against Russian Daniil Medvedev (ATP 4) to find out if he will compete in the semi-finals.
With a victory each, Fritz and Medvedev, earlier winner over Australian Alex de Minaur (ATP 9) 6-2 6-4, can still reach the last four. If he decisively beats Sinner in two sets, Medvedev can even deprive the Italian, winner this year of seven titles, including the Australian Open and the US Open, of the semi-finals. De Minaur, who is new to the ATP Finals, has on the other hand lost all hope of reaching the semi-finals.
Fritz feverish in key moments
Against Fritz, whom he clearly beat in the final of the last US Open, Sinner had a complicated start, hampered by a deficient first ball (62%) and the aggressiveness of the American. Twice, at 2-2, then 3-3, he found himself in difficulty with his throw-in. Despite everything, he got out of trouble by taking advantage, in the decisive exchanges, of the feverishness of his opponent, author of fifteen unforced errors in this round.
It was ultimately the Italian who took the lead with first three break points in the eighth game, saved by Fritz, before converting his first set point in the tenth game on the American’s serve after 50 minutes.
In the second set, Sinner, in search of his first title in Italy, experienced another alert on his serve at 3-3, before disgusting Fritz with an improbable backhand along the line to lead 4-3. As in the first set, when he seemed a little earlier on the verge of breaking, he converted his first match point on a last error from Fritz.
AFP
