Jannik Sinner achieves impressive ATP Finals feat as he qualifies for semi-finals in Turin
Jannik Sinner became the first player to qualify for the semi-finals of the 2024 ATP Finals in Turin before playing his third and final round robin match.
Taylor Fritz’s 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 victory against Alex de Minaur in the penultimate match in the John Newcombe group ensured Sinner’s progress to the last four.
“Even though I won the match I feel like there wasn’t necessarily any moments when I changed too much,” Fritz said in an on-court interview.
“He was all over me when I did a great job but towards the end of the second set I began to find my serve and I started serving much better. That allowed me to stay with it and create more pressure in his service games.
“When I wasn’t creating the first serves he was just killing me from the baseline. 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. It was still incredibly tough.”
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Fritz is the first American to record nine or more victories against top 10 players in a season since legendary compatriots Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras — who earned 12 and 10 such wins respectively in 1999.
The 27-year-old finishes the group stage with two wins from his three matches, having beaten Daniil Medvedev in his opening fixture and lost to Sinner in his second. This gives the world No 5 a strong chance of joining Sinner in the semi-finals.
If Sinner defeats Daniil Medvedev or loses to the Russian in three sets on Thursday night, he will finish top of the group, while Fritz will qualify for the semi-finals in second place.
Medvedev needs to beat the world No 1 in straight sets to progress to the knockout stage at the expense of Fritz.
Fritz confirmed he will be cheering for Sinner, but also revealed he is satisfied with his performance in Turin regardless of whether he advances.
“I really hope Jannik can do it tonight. I will be cheering for Jannik, but at the end of the day, I won two games in my group and lost to Jannik, who is the best player in the world. If I don’t make it through I can leave happy,” the American told Sky Sports.
At the age of 23 years and 90 days, Sinner is the youngest world No 1 to reach the semi-finals at the ATP Finals since Andy Roddick in 2003.
Roddick turned 21 less than three months before he made the last four of the 2003 edition of the year-end championships in Houston. The American lost to eventual champion Roger Federer at the semi-final stage.
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