SHANGHAI, China – Jannik Sinner, who will end the year as world No.1, and Novak Djokovic qualified for the Shanghai Masters 1000 final on Saturday by respectively beating the surprising Czech Tomas Machac (33rd) 6-4 , 7-5 and the American Taylor Fritz 6-4, 7-6 (8/6).
Sinner, 23, who has been on the ATP circuit since June, is now assured of becoming the first Italian to end the year at the top of the hierarchy, even before the last major tournaments of the season, including the Masters (ATP Finals), which will bring together the eight best players in the world from November 10 to 17 in Turin, in his country.
“I am very happy to achieve this. It’s been an incredible year for me, and it’s not over,” commented the player after his semi-final.
Already a winner in Cincinnati and Miami this year, the Italian qualifies for his third Masters 1000 final this season, the sixth of his career.
If successful on Sunday, the winner of the Australian Open and the US Open, still embroiled in a doping affair, would reach the figure of 65 victories this season, for only six defeats, beating his 2023 performance.
Djokovic, Olympic champion in Paris, has not played a final on the ATP circuit since his defeat at Wimbledon against Carlos Alcaraz, but will have the opportunity to win his 100th title on Sunday.
The Serbian, 37, leads Sinner 4-3 in their head-to-head matches but has lost their last two duels, including the semi-final of the Australian Open in January, at a time when he was still world number one. .
The “Djoker” will try to win a fifth time in his Shanghai garden, a record, and win his first Masters 1000 of the season. Since 2018, he has always won in at least one Masters 1000 each year.
Sinner “very satisfied”
Facing Fritz, whom he beat for the 10th time in as many matches, the Serb never really trembled.
After breaking at 2-2 in the first set, he relied on a very good first serve (81% against 59% for Fritz) to maintain his advantage until 6-4.
Trailing 3-2 in the second set, he was able to erase two set points by tightening the game to equalize and take the American to the tiebreaker.
Djokovic, who saved a set point in the deciding game, managed to reverse the score to win, out of breath, avoiding a perilous third set.
It was “an incredible fight”, reacted the Serb after the match. “He could have easily won the second set… In the tiebreaker, any of us could have won,” he added.
A little earlier, Sinner had to work to get rid of the Czech Tomas Machac, who defeated the American Tommy Paul (13th) and the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz (2nd) in the previous rounds.
After erasing a break at the start of the match, the Italian, very good behind his first balls (75% of points won against 57%), took the Czech’s challenge a second time at 5-4 and won the first round.
At 4-4 in a second set that was once again very contested, Jannik Sinner had to save two break points thanks to two big serves before winning his faceoff on a new direct error from Machac.
Three games later, Sinner did not miss his chance and concluded with a smash on his only break point of the set.
“It was very hard… He is very confident and can hit the ball really hard, and he has a very good serve,” said the Italian.
“I tried to stay mentally focused… I’m very happy with the way I’m fighting at the moment,” he added.
