World No. 1 Jannik Sinner fended off Czech Tomas Machac with a 6-4, 7-5 win in the semifinals Saturday at the Rolex Shanghai Masters, setting up a finals showdown with Novak Djokovic.
Sinner will be playing in his first championship match in Shanghai. He moved to 44-4 on the hardcourts this season with the win, which took one hour, 44 minutes.
Machac upset Spanish star Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinals but couldn’t muster the same performance against the top-seeded Sinner. He hit 25 winners against 36 unforced errors, with Sinner posting totals of 27 and 12, respectively.
Still, Italy’s Sinner said Machac was a tough opponent.
“I think we all saw how much talent he has, how much firepower he can produce,” Sinner said. “I had to be very careful in every service game because he returns very aggressively and very fast.
“I just tried to stay there every point, to see what was going to happen. … Just playing every point with the maximum intensity I could, so I’m very happy about that. I’m happy to be back in a final again.”
The win guaranteed he will finish the season at No. 1 in the ATP rankings, becoming the first Italian to do so.
And that’s a spot Djokovic knows all too well. He finished the season at No. 1 eight times and occupied the spot for 428 weeks, both records.
Djokovic, the fourth seed, defeated seventh-seeded Taylor Fritz 6-4, 7-6 (6) to record his 10th straight win in head-to-head pairings.
Djokovic is seeking his 100th career victory and would join Jimmy Connors (109) and Roger Federer (103) as the only men to reach that number. Four of his career wins have come in Shanghai.
“I came to Shanghai after five years of not playing in China, the place where I’ve always had great success, both in Shanghai and Beijing,” the Serbian said. “[I’ve won] many titles, had great battles and great performances. I’ve said it many times, the support that I get here is tremendous and I’m very grateful.
“That creates an energy that keeps me going, keeps me running, so I did come here definitely with a vision and a desire to get to the final and fight for a 100th title. I get that chance against the best player in the world, and let’s see what happens.”
Djokovic, 37, has won four of seven matches against Sinner. The 23-year-old Sinner has won three of the past four, including a semifinal match at the Australian Open this year.
–Field Level Media
