Home favourite Jannik Sinner made the ideal start to the ATP Finals in Turin with a straight-sets victory over Alex de Minaur. Sinner recovered from losing his serve in the third game to ease to a 6-3, 6-4 victory in 85 minutes in his first match since winning the Rolex Shanghai Masters on 13 October.
“He was playing great in the beginning of the match so I just tried to stay there mentally knowing that, hopefully, at some point my tennis would arrive,” the world No 1 said in an on-court interview. “It arrived quite early and I started to return very well, my serve for sure I have to improve but I’m very pleased about the win and hopefully this can give me the confidence for the next one.”
Sinner’s triumph took him joint top of the Ilie Nastase Group alongside American Taylor Fritz, who had earlier beaten an angry Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 6-3. Medvedev earned a warning for smashing his racket after serving three straight double faults to end the opening set.
The Russian then lost his cool again after a mishit Fritz lob landed on the baseline to seal the crucial break for 4-2 in the second set, throwing his racket and swiping at a microphone to earn a point penalty. Soon afterwards the match was over, with fifth seed Fritz determined to keep his focus no matter what was happening down the other end of the court.
“I definitely felt like at 5-3 he was going to reset and try as hard as he could to break me,” he said on Sky Sports. “It’s very easy sometimes when someone’s doing that to relax and think they’re just going to be done. Then you drop your level. I just had to tell myself stay focused at 5-3, play a really good game because he was going to fight. Luckily I served a great game.”
Britain’s Henry Patten and Finland’s Harri Heliövaara enjoyed a winning debut in the season-ending event as they beat 2023 finalists Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos 7-6 (2) 6-4 in the doubles.
The British-Finnish duo are bidding to become the first team to capture the Wimbledon and ATP Finals trophy in the same season since Mike Bryan and Jack Sock in 2018.
