World No. 1 Jannik Sinner justified his status as favorite for the ATP Masters by outclassing Alex De Minaur on Sunday, during a first day marked by the defeat and the breakdown of Daniil Medvedev.
In search of the first title of his career in front of his audience, Sinner passed the first obstacle without difficulty. It only took him two sets (6-3, 6-4) and 1h24 of play to beat De Minaur, world No. 8, who is discovering the tournament bringing together the eight best players of the year. Sinner, however, had a difficult start to the match. The Italian – withdrew from the Masters 1000 in Paris due to illness – had not played since his coronation at the Masters 1000 in Shanghai just a month ago.
He lost his serve in the third game. But immediately restored the situation and won four games in a row to lead 5-2 and no longer really worry. He concluded the match with an ace and a white service game.
“It’s been a long time since I played, I made a few mistakes and Alex started well, I just tried to stay in the match,” explained the tall redhead. “I am happy with my match and to play in front of this audience, there is no better way to end the year, especially since I was not able to play in Rome” in May, recalled Sinner, who won seven titles in 2024 including his first two Grand Slam tournaments (Australian Open and US Open).
In the other meeting of the “Ilie Nastase” group, the American Taylor Fritz (No. 5) won 6-4, 6-3 against Medvedev. The Russian, world No. 4 and winner of the “masters tournament” in 2020, experienced one of those mental implosions that punctuate his career. He first smashed his racket after conceding the first set with a series of three double faults. He then threw the end of his match after losing his serve at 4-2, not without another spectacular outburst of anger. He received a penalty point for swinging his racket and breaking a microphone capturing ambient sounds at the edge of the course.
To the great anger of the spectators who began to whistle at him, he then threw his racket in the air between each point of his opponent’s service, even pretending to want to return a service from Fritz by taking his racket by the sieve. .
“I don’t know why I’m doing this, I don’t expect anything from it, I was angry and frustrated, with myself, not with anyone,” he explained at a press conference. “I’m going to try to play better, if it doesn’t work, I’ll be happy to be eliminated, if it works, I’ll be happy to still be in the running,” said Medvedev, mentally and physically tired.
