By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday November 12, 2020
In a season of turmoil and unexpected surprises, one things has remained constant. The steady rise of Jannik Sinner, the lone teenager inside the ATP’s Top 100.
Sinner continued to turn heads on Thursday the Sofia Open in Bulgaria, where he dug deep for an impressive 6-7(3) 6-4 6-1 victory over third-seeded Alex de Minaur to reach his second ATP semifinal of 2020.
The 19-year-old Italian, who reached the semifinals in Cologne last month, will bid for his first ATP final appearance on Friday when me meets France’s Adrian Mannarino in the last four.
Sinner was strong when he needed to be against De Minaur, as he earned a critical break for 4-3 in the second set after dropping the opener to the No.25-ranked Aussie. Moments later the Italian immediately came under pressure but he was able to fight back from 15-40 in each of his next two service games to wiggle out of the middle set.
In the decider it was all one-way traffic as Sinner converted each of the three break points he saw to run away from the Aussie and seal his victory in two hours and 11 minutes.
Sinner, who famously defeated De Minaur in the final at last year’s Next Gen Finals in Milan, says he had a simple gameplan: Keep the Aussie in a corner and play fast.
“The important points, when you serve, try to serve with the first serve in and maybe then it is a little bit easier to win the point,” he said. “I was just focussing on that and trying to let him play in one corner, because he moves very fast… My tactic was to stay in one corner and try and play a little bit faster than him.”
It worked well for the World No.44, as most things have in 2020. Sinner won 43 of 54 first-serve points (80 percent) and saved six of seven break points on the day.
Earlier this year Sinner became the first ATP player to reach the quarterfinals on his Roland Garros debut since Rafael Nadal in 2005. He also recorded a key victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas at Rome. In total, Sinner owns an impressive six Top 25 wins in 2020, including triumphs over Alexander Zverev and David Goffin.
Mannarino moved past Radu Albot 6-2 1-6 6-3 on Thursday, while Canada’s Vasek Pospisil powered past John Millman 6-3 6-2.