Jannik Sinner, who will end the year as world No.1, and Novak Djokovic qualified on Saturday for the final of the Masters 1000 in Shanghai by respectively beating the Czech Tomas Machac (33e) 6-4, 7-5 and the American Taylor Fritz (7e) 6-4, 7-6 (8/6).
Sinner with full confidence
Sinner, 23, who has reigned 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 of the season, the sixth of his career. If successful on Sunday, the winner of the Australian Open and the US Open, still entangled in a doping affair, would reach the figure of 65 victories this season, beating his 2023 performance.
100e title at stake
Djokovic, Olympic champion in Paris, has not played an ATP final since his defeat at Wimbledon against Carlos Alcaraz on July 14, but he will have the opportunity to win his 100e title Sunday. The 37-year-old Serbian leads 4-3 against Sinner in their direct confrontations but has lost the last two duels, including the semi-final of the Australian Open in January, at a time when he still occupied the number one spot. a global 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 of these exercises each year.
“An incredible fight”
Facing Fritz, whom he beat for 10e times in as many matches, the Serb has never really trembled. After breaking at 2-2 in the first set, he relied on a very good first service (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 break points by tightening the game to equalize and take the American to the tie-break. 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 tie-break, any of us could have won”he added.
Sinner “very satisfied”
A little earlier, Sinner had had to work to get rid of the Czech Tomas Machac, who defeated the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz (2e) in the previous round. After erasing a break at the start of the match, the Italian, very good behind his first balls (75% of points won), took the Czech’s challenge a second time at 5-4 and won the first set.
At 4-4 in a second set that was once again very contested, Sinner saved two break points thanks to two big serves before winning his throw 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”declared the Italian. “I tried to stay mentally focused… I’m very happy with the way I’m fighting at the moment”he added.
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