Sinner reaches ATP Finals semi-finals, wins 28th consecutive indoor hard court match – Tennis Now
Last year in Turin, Jannik Sinner became the first player since Lendl in 1986 to win a Nitto ATP final without dropping a set. He might do it again in 2025.
The Italian defeated Alexander Zverev 6-4, 6-3 in 1 hour and 37 minutes to advance to the semifinals of the ATP season finale without dropping a set.
“The game was very close,” Sinner said. “I felt like I served very well in the important moments and I tried to play my best tennis in the important moments and luckily everything went as I wanted today.”
Winning 14 straight sets at the ATP Finals, a tally that cheered the crowd at Turin’s Inalpi Arena on Wednesday, Sinner also extended his winning streak on indoor hard courts to 28 matches.
Sinner currently has a 12-2 record in the ATP Finals, ranking second all-time in win percentage at the event.
Sinner has won five straight games against Zverev (four coming in 2025) to improve his overall record against the third-ranked German to 6-4.
Zverev had a chance early but failed to take advantage.
The 28-year-old had two break points in the first set but came away empty-handed.
Despite this, his serving performance was still excellent until the last game, and he even saved two set points in the 4-5 service game. But Zverev couldn’t hold on, hurt by two points after the third set point, Sinner pushed the ball, hit the ball down two lines, then dived into the net and pushed the volley winner into the empty court to lead 6-4 in 47 minutes.
The ten forehand winners Sinner held Zverev to zero in the first set don’t tell the whole story, but they do hint at why Zverev lost the set despite hitting 87 percent of his first serves and winning 19 of his 26 points.
“I’m really happy with the way I returned serve,” Sinner said. “It’s very difficult – his serve is one of the best in the game.”
The sinner’s work is not yet done. In the third game, he had to deliver three high-quality first serves while trailing 0-40, which made Zverev point to his penalty area as if to say “What should I do?”
Zverev was begging for another break point in the fifth game, which was Sinner’s cue to pounce. The Italian broke his style in the next game and hit a sharp-angle lob that Zverev didn’t even bother to chase, chasing the score to 4-2.
The final nail in the coffin came when Zverev missed a serve back to the net on break point in the next game.
Sinner faced a total of seven break points on the day and won her first serve on each break point.
He held on to a 5-2 record and ended it two games later to improve his season record to 55-6.
Sinner will face Ben Shelton in the final round-robin game of the week, while Zverev will face Felix Auger-Aliassime for the second semifinal spot.
