Grandiose Sinner marches on: First ATP semi-final!

The 18-year-old from Sexten brought the American, three years his senior and 66 places ahead of him in the world rankings, to his knees 6:4, 3:6 and 6:3. This means Sinner is in an ATP semi-final for the first time in his young career.

Jannik Sinner plays his best ATP tournament to date in Antwerp © Andrea Pizzini

In the eagerly awaited next-gen duel, Sinner continued exactly where he left off the day before in the two-set win against Gael Monfils: with powerful, well-placed forehands and backhands, as well as a service game that is increasingly becoming his secret weapon. When the score was 3:3, he used his third break point and paved the way to winning the set.

Tiafoe, on the other hand, needed until the middle of the second round to really get the engine up to speed. But then the strong-serving US boy came up trumps and managed to put Sinner in trouble again and again. When the opponent served, Tiafoe made it 4:2, after which Sinner was no longer able to get close. So it went into the decisive third set. There both opponents played their serve - until Sinner ignited the turbo in the sixth game and made it 4:2 with a break. After that, he didn't let the butter be taken off his bread and scored his first match point after exactly 102 minutes of play. See you again with Stan Wawrinka? In his first ATP semi-final on Saturday, Sinner could meet Stan Wawrinka (ATP 18), against whom he lost in four sets after a tough fight at his Grand Slam premiere in New York at the end of August. Wawrinka first has to eliminate Frenchman Gilles Simon (ATP 47) in the oldie duel.

By moving into the semi-finals, Sinner has already secured 32.730 euros in prize money and 90 ATP points. This means that on Monday he will be listed among the top 100 tennis players in the world for the first time in his career. Top 100 place and wildcard for Vienna What is certain is that Sinner will be seeded with a wildcard at the ATP 500 tournament in the Wiener Stadthalle next week. “This follows a bit of our principle that we give an up-and-coming player like Sinner a wild card,” said tournament director Herwig Straka. The South Tyrolean had been competing with Andy Murray for a place, but the Brit will travel to Antwerp to see his heavily pregnant wife.

Football

Italy

International leagues

International

Winter sports

Tennis

Other sports

Motorsport

Cycling

Watersports

Events

Favorites

Grandiose Sinner marches on: First ATP semi-final!

Jannik Sinner's successful run at the ATP 250 tournament in Antwerp continues. On Friday he won the duel of top talents with Frances Tiafoe in three sets.

Suggestions

Comments (0)