BEIJING (Reuters) -Jannik Sinner underlined his dominance on hardcourts in the Asian swing of tournaments by outlasting Australian third seed Alex de Minaur 6-3 4-6 6-2 on Tuesday to reach his third straight China Open final.
In the title clash, the four-times Grand Slam winner will take on either American 19-year-old Learner Tien or former U.S. Open champion Daniil Medvedev.
“I have one night to recover. I’m going to be fine,” Sinner said.
“In the finals you have even more adrenaline and more will to play as best as you can. I’m looking forward to it, finals are very special.
“It’s another final for me this season. It’s a great result again. Let’s see who it’s going to be.”
FAST START
Sinner made a typically fast start in his bid to secure an 11th straight victory over De Minaur, breaking the world number eight to love for a 4-2 lead, but he had to battle hard in the next game to hold serve.
The 2023 champion had no trouble wrapping up the first set from there but ran into trouble early in the next, appearing to struggle physically at times, before tight holds helped him level at 3-3 and 4-4.
De Minaur persevered to win only his second ever set against the Italian with a gutsy performance in the 10th game but Sinner regrouped in the decider, breaking in the first game and holding off his opponent to reach a ninth straight final on hardcourts.
“I felt like it (the level) was very high,” Sinner added.
“Many great rallies, many chances both ways. I had my chances in the second set, couldn’t take them. He had more chances, so it was quite an even match.
“In the third set I tried to raise my level. I broke him very early, which gave me a bit of confidence to serve better at times. I’m very happy about today. It was a different match than usual against him.”
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Ed Osmond)
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