(Turin) Jannik Sinner on Thursday became the first Italian to qualify for the semi-finals of the ATP Masters, a stage of the competition that Novak Djokovic joined thanks to world No.4.
Sinner, 24, achieved a flawless performance in the group stage, with three victories, the last acquired painfully against the Dane Holger Rune 6-2, 5-7, 6-4.
“It was a very complicated match, I had never beaten him, I started well, but then it got complicated. Against Holger, everything starts from scratch after each set,” analyzed Sinner who seemed disturbed by back pain from the 2nd set.
“We will now see what it is possible to do on Saturday” in the semi-final, he continued.
Sinner was already assured of making the semi-finals even before his last match.
It was the Pole Hubert Hurkacz, one of his best friends on the circuit, who offered him this historic qualification by taking a set from Novak Djokovic.
The world No.1 and defending champion ended up winning against Hurkacz, replacing the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, who had a back injury, in three sets 7-6 (7/1), 4-6, 6-1.
But the loss of the second set, following a slump from the fifth game, allowing Hurkacz to score thirteen points in a row, almost cost “Djoko” dearly.
If Sinner lost against Rune, Djokovic, who lost his duel on Tuesday against the Italian, was eliminated.
“It’s no longer in our hands, it’s the format of this tournament that requires that, I knew that before playing this match,” Djokovic explained after his victory.
“He’s a player that I really like off the field, but less when we face each other. He often causes me problems with his serve,” he added, about his opponent of the day.
During this match, the Serb sometimes showed great nervousness, exchanging words that seemed hardly friendly with his camp during a change of sides.
“My kids are coming tonight, I’m going to spend some time with them. Not sure I’m watching the match” from Sinner, the Serb assured.
Djokovic, assured of finishing the year in first place in the world rankings for the eighth time in his career, can therefore still aim for a seventh coronation in the “Masters tournament”.
He co-holds the record for victories (6) in the event with the Swiss Roger Federer.
He will face the winner of the red group in the semi-finals on Saturday, the outcome of which will be sealed on Friday.
The Russian Daniil Medvedev, winner of his first two matches, is already assured of finishing in one of the first two places in this group. The last ticket for the last four will be played between the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, world No.2, and the German Alexander Zverev who signed a victory each.
Alcaraz faces Medvedev on Friday from 2:30 p.m. and Zverev will face Russian Andrey Rublev in the evening.