Sinner and Djokovic will fight for the title in the final of the Shanghai Masters 1,000

The Italian ensures he ends the year as number one and the Serbian will fight for his 100th title

The Italian Jannik Sinner and the Serbian Novak Djokovic will fight this Sunday for the title of the Shanghai tournament (China), the eighth and penultimate Masters 1,000 of the season and which is held on a hard court, after beating the Czech Tomas in the semifinals this Saturday Machac (6-4, 7-5) and the American Taylor Fritz (6-4, 7-6(6)), respectively.

With this result, Sinner is guaranteed to finish the year at number one in the ATP rankings, becoming the first Italian to achieve this. At 23 years old, he is the nineteenth player to finish a season as number one in the world and the fourth active player to do so, along with Novak Djokovic, Rafa Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz.

In one hour and 43 minutes, the transalpine defeated Carlos Alcaraz’s executioner and equaled his personal best record of victories in a single season (64), guaranteeing his fourth consecutive final since last August he reached the title match in the Cincinnati Masters 1,000.

He started off somewhat hesitant, giving up his serve, but he immediately linked three games in a row to restore equality before breaking the Czech tennis player’s serve again in the tenth game, which allowed him to win the set. Already in the second round, he saved two break balls from his rival and managed to materialize a break again in the final game, with which he put an end to the contest.

Sinner, who has accumulated six ATP titles this year – including the Australian Open, with which he became the first Italian to lift a ‘major’ since Adriano Panatta at Roland Garros 1976, and the US Open – is thus guaranteed to finish 2024 as number one in the world, an honor he has held for 17 weeks.

This Sunday he will fight for his seventh crown of the course against the Serbian Novak Djokovic, current number four in the world and who was eliminated in the other semifinal by the American Taylor Fritz. If the Balkan player wins the final, he will win the 100th title of his ATP career.

Djokovic, four-time champion in Shanghai (2012, 2013, 2015 and 2018), needed one hour and 56 minutes to win the final match, after breaking his opponent’s serve on one occasion in the first set and taking the tie. -break’ of the second, after none of the opponents could break the rival’s service.

Thus, he manages to reach at least one ATP Masters 1,000 final in 17 different seasons (2007-09, 2011-23), a mark that equals him with the record shared with Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal. With this result, Djokovic rises three positions in the Race to Turin and places sixth in the fight to be in the ATP Finals in November.