Jannik Sinner defeated Holger Rune in his last match in the group stages at the 2023 ATP Finals, and he wasn't the only man celebrating.
Ahead of the last match in the Green Group at the 2023 ATP Finals, it was clear that it wasn't only about two men but three. If Rune bested his opponent, he would eliminate Novak Djokovic.
Ahead of the match, there were discussions about Sinner possibly losing on purpose to eliminate the biggest favourite, but already after a few games, it was obvious that the Italian came to play in front of the home crowd in Turin.
Sinner was simply much better player in the opening four games of the match, dominating his opponent, breaking his serve twice, and as a result, leading 4-0 after only a few minutes.
Rune never responded to the superior start of his opponent in the opening set, as the Italian proceeded to win it 6-2 and take control of the match.
Yet, the response from the Dane didn't wait too long. After leaving one break point unused and saving another one, Rune had a 40-0 lead on his opponent's serve in the twelfth game of the second set.
He couldn't use his first two chances, but used the third one to win the second set 7-5 and send the match into the decider.
Both players had their chances in the third set, and there were plenty of break points. However, Sinner created more chances, as he had six opportunities to break his opponent, and it was the sixth one that counted.
On the other hand, Rune's one break point was not enough, as cheered on by the home crowd, Sinner won the match 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 to complete a clean sweep in the round robin stage and advance to the 2023 ATP Finals semifinal as the top seed from his group, meeting the second placed player from the Red Group, which will likely be either Carlos Alcaraz or Alexander Zverev.
0 Comments