TURIN.- World number 1 Jannik Sinner He suffered to beat the American Taylor Fritz (5th), but saved the ballot with a double 6-4 this Tuesday in Turin in the ATP Masterswith Daniil Medvedev (4th) enhancing his chances of qualifying by beating the Australian Álex de Miñaur (N.9) 6-2 and 6-4.
Sinner achieved his second victory in two games, but will have to wait until Thursday and his duel against Medvedev to mathematically secure his place in the semifinals.
With one victory each, Fritz and Medvedev also have a chance to play in the penultimate round.
If he were to win in two sets against Sinner, Medvedev could even deprive the Italian, winner of seven titles this season – including the Australian Open and the US Open – of the semi-finals.
“The public is helping me a lot. It was a very tough match, we knew what we expected from each other… I had problems returning their serve, but I am happy to have overcome the situation,” said the world number one.
De Minaur, eliminated
De Minaur, a debutant in the Masters, is mathematically eliminated before the third day.
At the close of Wednesday’s match against Fritz, whom he also beat in the US Open final, Sinner did not show his best side, weighed down by a poor first ball (62%) and the Californian’s aggressiveness.
On two occasions, at 2-2 and 3-3, he had difficulty saving his serve, but he showed skill and took advantage of his opponent’s weakness in key points, author of 15 unforced errors in the first set.
Finally, the Italian took the initiative with three break points in the eighth game, saved by Fritz, before converting the first set point he had – in the tenth – with the American’s serve, after 50 minutes of the match.
In the second set, Sinner, who is seeking his first title in Italy, had a new alert, with his serve and 3-3 on the scoreboard, before resolving with an improbable backhand to go up 4-3.
Once again surgical, he converted his first match point and celebrated before a Turin audience devoted to their idol.
From boos to solvency
Booed by fans in his debut for his apathy and bad manners, Medvedev corrected his step in the first turn this Wednesday.
Much superior, more aggressive and much more effective, especially with his second serve, Medvedev took the victory by a score of 6-2 and 6-4 against De Minaur in one hour and twenty minutes.
The Russian, champion of the ‘Masters Tournament’ in 2020, gave a very different image to the one exhibited on Sunday, when he lost against Fritz 6-4 and 6-3, showing signs of his bad character and mental derangement.
“I decided not to worry, in a good way (about the crowd’s reaction). If I lost, my season was over; if I won, it gave me another chance on Thursday. I will try to do the same in the next match,” Medvedev declared.
The Russian was decisive with his winning shots (25 to De Minaur’s only 9) and minimized unforced errors (10 to the Australian’s 13), without granting his rival a single break opportunity.
This result means that we will have to wait for the last day of the ‘Ilie Nastase Group’, on Thursday, to meet the two semi-finalists.
On Wednesday the second day is played in the ‘John Newcombe Group’: Carlo Alcaraz (3rd), sick in his initial defeat against Casper Ruud (7th), will play against Andrey Rublev (9th); while Alexander Zverev (2nd) will do so against the Norwegian.
