Italy’s Jannik Sinner starts strong in ATP Finals with straight-set win over Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas
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Italian Jannik Sinner returns the ball to Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas during their first round-robin match at the ATP Finals tennis tournament on November 12, 2023 in Turin.
PHOTO: AFP
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TURIN – Despite qualifying for the ATP Finals for only the first time, Jannik Sinner played like a veteran as the 22-year-old Italian beat Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 6-4 to make a flying start in the season-ending showpiece on Sunday.
Looking relaxed, the world No. 4 laid down a marker in the first match of the ATP Finals in front of a delighted home crowd in Turin.
Despite trailing his sixth-ranked opponent 2-5 in their head-to-head record, Sinner got into an early lead in the first set when he broke at 2-2 and never looked back, as he confidently saw out victory in one hour and 25 minutes.
“I was excited to step on court and opening the Finals is really, really special,” Sinner said. “I knew it was going to be very tough, but I think I handled the situation well. I tried to stay aggressive and I am very happy with the performance. I am happy to start off with a win and hopefully I can continue with this intensity.”
The encounter stayed on serve until the fifth game of the first set, when the fourth seed sprang to break the 25-year-old Greek’s serve, needing only one break point to gain the lead he would never relinquish.
The two-time Grand Slam finalist applied pressure on the Italian’s serve in the very next game, forcing it to deuce but a relaxed Sinner held on to consolidate the break, before serving out the first set to claim it 6-4.
First on serve again in the second set, the Greek was immediately behind the match when Sinner broke his service to lead 1-0, with Tsitsipas struggling to live with the speed of the Italian’s groundstrokes.
At 2-0, Sinner forced three break points but was unable to convert as Tsitsipas doggedly stayed in the match.
Playing on home turf and now a set and a break up, Sinner never looked troubled in the second ATP Finals of his career, as he methodically ticked off the games to claim a straight-set victory over Tsitsipas, who had won the tournament on his debut in 2019.
Sinner had made his ATP Finals debut in 2021 when he replaced countryman Matteo Berrettini, who withdrew with an injury after his first match.
His victory over Tsitsipas was also only the third time that an Italian had won an ATP Finals singles match after Berrettini defeated Dominic Thiem in 2019 and Sinner beat Hubert Hurkacz in 2021.
Paying tribute to the packed crowd at the Pala Alpitour arena, Sinner said: “It is a special week. We play under a roof, so it is noisier and playing with this crowd is such a special feeling. I tried to be really happy on the court and really focused.”
Top seed Novak Djokovic will play Denmark’s Holger Rune in the second match of the Green Group.
The 36-year-old Serb, bidding for a record seventh title at the ATP Finals, needs just one group-match victory to seal the year-end world No. 1 spot for an eighth time.
In Red Group action on Monday, world No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz takes on eighth-ranked Alexander Zverev in the early match before world No. 3 Daniil Medvedev faces fifth-ranked Andrey Rublev. AFP, REUTERS
