TURIN :Italian world number one Jannik Sinner eased past Daniil Medvedev 6-3 6-4 in their final group match on Thursday, leaving Taylor Fritz to seal a place in the semi-finals of the season-ending ATP Finals after the American defeated Alex de Minaur 5-7 6-4 6-3.
Sinner gave Russia’s Medvedev, who had to beat him in straight sets to eliminate U.S. Open runner-up Fritz, no chance of reaching the last four after taking an untroubled first set.
Despite Medvedev’s best efforts, Sinner was far superior, serving to love to take a 4-3 lead and closing out the opening set with a triple set point when the Russian missed a forehand return at the net.
World number four Medvedev refused to go without a fight and took a tenacious 4-3 lead in the second set. But his hopes of a comeback were dashed when Sinner levelled the next game and then wrapped up the match in 73 minutes, finishing top of the group and completing a perfect group stage with three victories.
“I try to enjoy my time on the court. The atmosphere here is amazing, so I’m just trying to play good tennis this week,” said Sinner in front of a cheering home crowd in Turin.
“I’m trying to win as many matches as possible. Me and Daniil, we know each other very well. So every time we step on the court we try to change something tactically,” added the Italian, who holds an 8-7 head-to-head advantage over the former world number one.
Earlier, Fritz gave a dominant performance, bouncing back from a set down with a solid display in the second before running away with the third set as the match marked the first time a deciding set has been played at this year’s tournament.
DE MINAUR WINLESS
Seventh seed De Minaur, meanwhile, goes home without winning a single match in the Ilie Nastase group on his tournament debut.
“He was all over me (in the first set). What I did a great job of was in the second set, towards the end of the second set, I really started to find my serve,” Fritz said.
“I started serving much better and then that allowed me to just stay with it and create more pressure on his service games… It just gave me a little bit of comfort to just stay in the match and not be under so much pressure all the time.”
The two played some entertaining tennis in the opening set, including a 30-shot rally which De Minaur won with a passing shot while Fritz walked back to the baseline with a wry smile.
De Minaur converted the all-important break at 5-5 and served for the set, sealing it with an ace, which also confirmed world number one Sinner as the first semi-finalist.
De Minaur, however, needed to win the second set comfortably to stand a chance of advancing to the semi-finals and the Australian saw his slim hopes of going through evaporate when Fritz levelled the score at one set apiece.
That was all the motivation a fired-up Fritz needed as he raced into a 4-1 lead to gain control of the decider while De Minaur crumbled. At 5-3, Fritz had three match points and took the contest with an ace.
“I think all of us are pretty beat up, but if I’m in the semis of the World Tour finals, I’ve got energy to give it for the semis,” Fritz added.
The last two semi-final places will be up for grabs on Friday with a showdown between Spanish Carlos Alcaraz and German Alexander Zverev, who tops his group with a 2-0 record, while Norwegian Casper Ruud will face Russian Andrey Rublev.
