Jannik Sinner had a great start to the final Masters in Turin. In the green group, he beat Stefanos Tsitsipas 6:4 and 6:4. After three hours and four minutes, Novak Djokovic defeated Holger Rune 7:6, 6:7 and 6:3 and confirmed the first place in the ATP rankings.
The 36-year-old Serb made history again, as he will end the tennis season at the top of the ATP rankings for the eighth time. He set another milestone, as on November 20 he will be the number one player in the world for 400 weeks. Both records will be hard to beat.
Rune once again proved to be a tough competitor. The 20-year-old Dane already tormented Djokovic last Friday in the quarter-finals of the 1000 series tournament in Paris, who was better with 7:5, 6:7 and 6:4. The new coach Boris Becker quickly managed to raise the level of Rune’s game. Of course, he knows Djokovic very well, as he is his former coach and also a long-time friend. The three sat together in a hotel at the players’ presentation on Friday in Turin.
Djokovic won the first extended game, then lost the second smoothlyIn the first set, Djokovic lost his serve in the fifth game, but he immediately leveled at 3:3. The decision was made in an extended game, which the Belgrader won 7:3.
Even in the second set, Rune started better, leading 2:0. He lost his break advantage again, but then in the tenth game he had a chance to equalize at 1:1 in sets on the Serb’s serve. He didn’t succeed and it was again decided by “tie-break”. This time the Dane was much more collected, he served perfectly and won the first six points. Djokovic rarely lost an extended game with 1:7.
Rune served too poorly in the deciding setIn the deciding set, the world’s number one player rallied. He gave up just one point in the opening two games. Rune evened the match at 2:2, but then again served poorly in the sixth game. Đoković led 4:2 and ended the marathon match in the ninth game without giving a point.
Rune hit 18 aces and 48 “winners”. The final ratio in points won was 111:106.
Sinner impressed the fans at the opening match The 22-year-old Sinner served perfectly in the afternoon showdown and did not allow a single opportunity to take the serve away. He scored 22 “winners”.
In the first set, Cicipas lost his serve in the fifth game, but Sinner reliably held all games on his serve.
In the opening game of the second set, the Greek had three chances to hold the opening shot, but he did not capitalize on them and the Italian managed to break the key. In the third game, Cicipas saved himself after falling behind with 0/40, but he had no chance to serve the favorite of the audience in the Alpitour Hall. He won just four points in the second set, returning Sinner’s strong and accurate serves.
The final ratio in points won was 62:50. The match lasted an hour and 25 minutes.
“It was something special to step on the pitch in front of the home fans at such a big tournament. I got the hang of it quickly, I wasn’t too nervous. I played very aggressively from the baseline and will continue to do so in the next matches. This is a very special week for me, it was very loud in the hall,” said Sinner.
Green Group, Round 1: SINNER (ITA/4) – CICIPAS (GREECE/6) 6:4, 6:4
ĐOKOVIC (SRB/1) – RUNES (DAY/8) 7:6 (4), 6:7 (1), 6:3
Red group, 1st round, Monday at 14:30: ALCARAZ (ŠPA/2) – A. ZVEREV (NEM/7)
At 21:00: MEDVEDEV (RUS/3) – RUBLYJOV (RUS/5)
The top two in each group advance to the semi-finals.
Source: Rtvslo