Sinner beats Fritz today, ATP Finals semi-final very close

Jannik Sinner beats Taylor Fritz today at the ATP Finals in the match of the second day of the Ilie Nastase Group. The Italian, world number 1, beats the American 6-4, 6-4 in 1h50′ and takes another step towards qualifying for the semi-final.

The 23-year-old from South Tyrol, at his third success in 4 direct matches with Fritz, archives the case despite a ‘normal’ performance on serve (59% of first serves). Balance in the winning shots (21-20), the American makes more mistakes (31 errors against 22) and goes overboard in key moments.

The group standings will be defined on Thursday 14 November, when Sinner will face the Russian Daniil Medvedev, fresh from the success against the Australian Alex De Minaur who will face Fritz in 2 days. Sinner leads with 2 victories, Medvedev and Fritz have a tied record (1-1), De Minaur lost both matches played.

What Sinner said

“It was a difficult match, I could have served a little better but we played at a very high level from baseline. We are closer to the semi-final, which is the first objective in this tournament”, says the Italian at the end of the match.

“When I needed the serve, I found the first ball. I’m happy to have handled the complicated situations well. With Fritz we played the final at the US Open, today I managed to show an excellent level. Now I have a day of rest , we hope to be ready for Thursday’s match against Medvedev”, adds Sinner in the on-court interview.

It matches

Fritz plays at a very high level, while Sinner doesn’t find the first consistently. A balanced first set emerged, with the first break point saved by the blue in the seventh game. The world number 1 raises the level, gets 3 break points but doesn’t exploit them. Fritz remains in full swing, but in the tenth game he falls apart. The American’s first ball no longer works as it did at the start of the match, Sinner gets the break point which is worth the first set: mission accomplished, 6-4 in 50 minutes.

Fritz clings to the match in the second set and in the sixth game he cancels a break point close to the match point (3-3). In the next game it is Sinner who risks something: down 0-30, the South Tyrolean changes gear and avoids trouble (4-3). The script progressively follows that of the first set. In the tenth game, down 4-5, Fritz goes haywire. Ahead 30-0, the American shuts down: Sinner scores 4 points in a row and closes the score. Game, set and match.