Jannik Sinner is in the final in Cincinnati. © APA / MATTHEW STOCKMAN

Hours of thrills: Sinner roars his way into the final!

What a great show Jannik Sinner and Alexander Zverev put on! The two tennis stars played brilliantly in the semi-finals of the Masters 1000 tournament in Cincinnati (USA). But at the end, the biggest smile was on Sinner's face: he's in the final!

August 19, 2024

By: thomas debelyak

When Jannik Sinner converted his second match point on Sunday after a tennis match lasting more than three hours, he made an unusual gesture. He roared everything, absolutely everything, for a few seconds. The world number one from the Pustertal is in the final of the Masters 1000 tournament in Cincinnati. In a dramatic semi-final, Sinner prevailed against Alexander Zverev (ATP 4) with 7:6 (9), 5:7, 7:6 (4).

This means that superstar Sinner has reached his fifth final of the current season in the dress rehearsal for the US Open. In the four finals to date, the South Tyrolean has always left the court as the winner - including at the Australian Open. On Monday, Sinner will meet Frances Tiafoe (ATP 27), who defeated Holger Rune (ATP 16) in the semifinals. The match will not take place before midnight CEST.

Like balm for the soul

For Sinner, reaching the final is like a balm for the soul, after all, the newly minted 23-year-old has had difficult weeks. The quarter-final exit at Wimbledon, the Olympics cancellation due to tonsillitis, the bumpy comeback in Toronto including the quarter-final exit - all of this gnawed at the Sextner's spirit.



Sinner was not in top form in Cincinnati either. But: With Andrey Rublev (ATP 6) and Alexander Zverev (ATP 4), the Pusterer has now knocked out two top 10 players within two days. He also broke his Zverev taboo: the world number 1 had lost the last four encounters with the German.

Each set one hour

The three-hour match against Zverev was not for the faint-hearted. The first period alone lasted 67 minutes, and the match was interrupted for half an hour in the middle of the tie break due to rain. Sinner did not let this bother him and sealed the set extension with an unusually high score of 11:9 - including two saved set points, mind you.

Zverev and Sinner shake hands after the match. © APA / DYLAN BUELL

Anyone who thought that Zverev would give in was mistaken. The German Olympic champion demanded everything from Sinner and won the second set 7:5. The match felt like it was on a knife edge at every rally, at every moment.

The old Sinner is back

So it went into the third set, in which both players served excellently. It's no wonder that the tie break had to decide the match again. And here, of all places, Sinner - true to the style of a champion - played his best tennis of the week so far. He played magnificent volleys, measured the baseline shots with millimetre precision and hit inimitable winners. After three hours and seven minutes of net playing time, Sinner finally converted his second match point and moved into the final.