Shanghai – World number one Jannik Sinner won the Shanghai Tennis Masters and prevented Novak Djokovic from rounding the number of tournament titles to 100. The 23-year-old Italian, who won both Grand Slams on hard surfaces this year, defeated the Serbian, 14 years his senior and the holder of a record 24 Grand Slam triumphs, in two sets 7:6 and 6:3.
Sinner knocked out Tomáš Macháč in Saturday’s semi-final, Djokovic beat another Czech, Jakub Menšík, a round earlier in China on his way to the final. In the fight for the title, both stars held serve for a long time. The first set was decided by a tie-break, in which Sinner took a 4-0 lead and did not let it go. After the second set point, he won 7:4.
“In the first set, Novak served excellently, but luckily I managed the tie-break and gained the confidence I needed,” Sinner praised himself in an on-court interview after his seventh triumph of the year and seventeenth overall in his career.
In the fourth game of the second set, the Italian managed to break Djokovic’s serve for the first time. He did not waste the advantage of the break, he ended the final with an ace. He equalized the mutual balance with his Serbian rival at 4:4, and dominates on concrete in a ratio of 4:1.
Sinner didn’t face a single break point today, he used one out of two. “It is always one of the biggest challenges against Novak, he is a legend of our sport,” said the current leader of the rankings, who will finish the season in first place. And as the first Italian. Today he played 22 winning balls, the opponent 12.
“I don’t have a special recipe for him. It is necessary to take advantage of the few mistakes he makes. I am satisfied with my performance,” added the tennis player, who is still facing punishment for the doping case from March this year.
Djokovic could have won the Shanghai Masters for the fifth time, but he did not succeed in winning the jubilee 100th title. Only the American Jimmy Connors with 109 triumphs and the Swiss Roger Federer (103) are ahead of him in the historical table. “He deserved the victory. He was better, stronger and faster. He is having a great season,” he said of his conqueror.
Sport tennis Shanghai final PHOTO VERSION 2
Source: www.ceskenoviny.cz
