ATP Finals: Jannik Sinner beats Novak Djokovic for the first time!
Local hero Jannik Sinner also won his second group match at the ATP Finals: In a late-night finish, he beat world number one Novak Djokovic in three hard-fought sets.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Nov 15, 2023, 12:38 am
The Italian won 7:5, 6:7 (5) and 7:6 (2) against Djokovic after 3 hours and 9 minutes of play. Djokovic was recently unbeaten in 19 matches, since losing the Wimbledon final against Carlos Alcaraz in July. He had also won all of his previous three games against Sinner. But now the South Tyrolean struck for the first time - and confirmed the strong impression from his first group win over Stefanos Tsitsipas on Sunday.
For a long time everything was in order in the first round: both players had one break point each, but at 5:5 Djokovic didn't take advantage of a 40:0, Sinner scored nine points in a row to lead the set. In the second set, the Italian was ahead in the tiebreak, but didn't serve enough first serves (which he also did after the match) - Djokovic came back.
In the decision, a fantastic return game from Sinner with a cracking forehand return for the break and 4:2. But, you know it: Djokovic stuck with it and got the serve back. In the tiebreak, Sinner pulled away with a 5-0 lead and didn't let this lead be taken away from him.
ATP Finals: Sinner and Djokovic with the best semi-final cards
However, this is not enough to secure qualification for the semi-finals; Sinner would have had to win in two sets. He will face Holger Rune on Thursday, and Djokovic will then play against substitute Hubert Hurkacz. However, Sinner and Djokovic have the best cards.
“I am more self-confident in certain moments of the match,” said Sinner, referring to his positive process of late. "It was a high-level match." The victory obviously means a lot to him. "It was a very tactical game and I'm of course very happy about the win."
A look at the points shows how close it was: Sinner and Djokovic each had 109 points on the list.
Zverev's turn on Wednesday evening
In the first (doubles) match of the evening session, Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos won 6:4, 6:4 against the duo Dodig/Krajicek and secured their place in the semi-finals.
In the afternoon, Holger Rune benefited from Stefanos Tsitsipas' quick submission.
On the program on Wednesday in the singles: Carlos Alcaraz against Andrey Rublev (from 3 p.m.) and Alexander Zverev against Daniil Medvedev (from 9 p.m.)
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