Jannik Sinner is in the semi-finals. © ANSA / JOHN G. MABANGLO

Semifinals in Indian Wells: Even strong winds leave Sinner cold

Slowly but surely this series is becoming scary: Jannik Sinner won his 1000th match in a row on Thursday at the Masters 19 tournament in Indian Wells. Like many opponents this season, opponent Jiri Lehecka seemed powerless, perplexed and without a chance.

March 14, 2024

From: leo

Jannik Sinner rushed into the quarter-finals with smooth two-set victories over Thanasi Kokkinakis, Jan-Lennard Struff and Ben Shelton. There we had a duel with a player that the South Tyrolean had never met on the ATP Tour: Jiri Lehecka. The Czech, who is the same age, is number 32 in the world, won his first title this year and has already beaten two big names like Andrey Rublev and Stefanos Tsitsipas in Indian Wells. The man from the Autostadt Mladá Boleslav noticed that Sinner is a different house number: The South Tyrolean put in another sparkling clean performance and won 6:3 and 6:3.

The two protagonists had to deal with tricky conditions in the Californian desert. On the one hand there was a gusty wind and on the other hand the temperatures were significantly lower than in the previous days. The quality suffered due to the weather conditions, as both the Sesto player and Lehecka, who is coached by Tomas Berdych, are not wind players.

A one-way street

During the world rankings 3. But in front of Bill Gates he showed cleverness and reduced his risks, the Czech tried to play a winner with every ball. He quickly received the receipt for this because Sinner broke in the third game. Although he wavered briefly when he allowed a break chance, he won the set after another break.

Had no chance: Jiri Lehecka © APA / MATTHEW STOCKMAN

Lehecka wasn't able to reduce his number of mistakes in the second section either - on the contrary: because he was now plagued by back problems, Sinner had an easy time of it. With a beautiful passed ball at the net, he gained a 4-1 lead. Lehecka, who committed a total of 35 unforced errors and also dropped his racket out of frustration, had resigned himself to his fate. But a small door opened when Sinner made two double faults in one game. But in the end there was nothing left to shake the victory - despite a poor service rate. After 1.24 hours the favorite used his fourth match point.

In the semi-finals there will be a big dream duel: Then Sinner will meet Carlos Alcaraz, number 2 in the world. The Spaniard clearly defeated the German Alexander Zverev in two sets on Friday night.