Defending champion has to tremble Sinner saves powerless Djokovic into the semi-finals
November 17, 2023, 5:58 a.m
Novak Djokovic is in the semi-finals of the ATP Finals – and has Jannik Sinner to thank for that. He defeated Holger Rune in a match that was meaningless for him and saved defending champion Djokovic from advancing.
Thanks to Jannik Sinner, defending champion Novak Djokovic reached the semi-finals at the ATP Finals. The Italian won on Thursday evening in Turin against the young Danish star Holger Rune, trained by Boris Becker, 6:2, 5:7, 6:4 and helped the world number one from Serbia to advance with his third victory.
If Rune had won, he would have moved into the semi-finals and Djokovic would have finished the season with the eight best players of the tennis year. Sinner was already a semi-finalist before the duel with Rune.
Alexander Zverev is fighting for a place in the semi-finals this Friday and, like Djokovic, is dependent on support. Only if Daniil Medvedev from Russia, who has already qualified for the semi-finals, wins against Wimbledon winner Carlos Alcaraz from Spain from 2:30 p.m. (Sky) will Zverev still have a chance of progressing in the evening game (8:30 p.m./Sky) against Russian Andrej Rublyov, who has already been eliminated. With a win, the Olympic champion would book his ticket to the semi-finals. Otherwise the tennis year is over for him.
Big trouble with the substitute
Djokovic initially beat Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz 7:6 (7:1), 4:6, 6:1 and thus celebrated his second victory in Turin. But because he had given up a set, he was dependent on Sinner winning. And from the start he left no doubt that he would take the game seriously, even though it was meaningless for him in terms of sport. After just 32 minutes, the crowd favorite took the first set against a mistaken Rune.
But then Rune increased, and Sinner was apparently suffering from pain in his back. The Dane managed to equalize the set and fought doggedly for his semi-final chance. Sinner held on and managed the decisive break to make it 5:4.
Djokovic previously had more trouble than expected with substitute Hurkacz. The Pole stepped in for Stefanos Tsitsipas, who had to give up his second group game against Rune due to back problems. Although he no longer had a chance of advancing, Hurkacz showed a strong performance and made life difficult for Djokovic, especially with his serve. In total, the Pole hit 24 aces. In the end, Djokovic prevailed and was happy about progressing a few hours later.
2023-11-17 04:58:00
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