Sinner returns to the final in Turin with a score to equal | ATP Tour

Nitto ATP Final

Sinner returns to the final in Turin with a score to tie

The Italian will face Taylor Fritz on Sunday.

November 16, 2024

Jannik Sinner’s dream season finale is very close to becoming a reality. Having won his second Grand Slam title at the US Open, the Italian was aiming to win his first Nitto ATP final and is one win away from top spot in the PIF ATP rankings.

He reached the final this Saturday thanks to a 6-1, 6-2 win over Norway’s Casper Ruud in the second semi-final of the day, giving himself the opportunity to win his eighth title in 2024. The American is waiting for him on Sunday Taylor Fritz.

The 17-time ATP Tour champion qualified for the championship match with a 4-0 record this week, the same as he did twelve months ago at this tournament in Turin. This time he will try to ensure a different result from the result in 2023, in which he lost in the final to Novak Djokovic, who fell victim to him a couple of days earlier in the group stage.

He will now also face the player he beat in the round robin. But this time he has almost absolute favoritism to defeat Fritz again, against whom he has a positive record (now 3-1) having beaten him a few weeks ago in the US Open determination.

The biggest argument is his tennis. The 23-year-old right-hander came into this bout undefeated in a set and continued the trend on Saturday against an opponent who entered this bout with a 1-1 record in the Nitto ATP Finals semi-finals but whom he controlled from start to finish.

He saved the two break points he faced and holed out four times to seal his ninth ATP Tour Finals qualification and leave his Lexus ATP HeadToHead 3-0 with Ruud, whom he had already beaten in Vienna in 2020 and 2021 .

It took him just over 70 minutes to get back to the final in Turin and within one of the titles he most coveted in his career.

“I feel like I was coming back well in the first games of each set, and then when I was leading at the break, I tried to be very focused on my serve,” Sinner said. “I tried to be intense with every shot and I’m very happy with the performance and to be in the final again.”