By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday November 14, 2024

2023 ATP Finals runner-up Jannik Sinner is making a push to become Italy’s first champion at the tour’s prestigious season-ending championships.

So far, so good.

Sinner finished group play undefeated on Thursday in Turin, defeating Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 6-4 in 74 minutes. The loss eliminates former champion Medvedev and sends American Taylor Fritz into the semifinals.



Sinner dropped just 11 points on serve and broke Medvedev three times to make it eight victories in his last nine matches against Medvedev. Not bad for a guy who dropped his first six matches to the Russian, before finally earning his first win against him last year in the Beijing final. Since that moment the matchup has been one-way traffic for Sinner.

On Thursday he imposed himself from the start, but he needed some time to wrestle the opening set away from the No.4 seed. Medvedev saved a pair of break points to hold for 3-3 in the opener, but he was broken in his next service game. Sinner served out the set with ease – overall, the Italian lost just two points on serve in the opener.



In the second set, with Medvedev already officially eliminated from contention (he needed to win in straight sets to qualify for the semis), the Russian remained engaged and recovered an early break for 3-3, but he couldn’t keep Sinner at bay as the top seed struck for another break for 5-4 then converted his first match point in the next game to lock up his 68th win of the season against just six losses.

Top-ranked Sinner has won 24 of his last 25 matches. He won’t learn who is semifinal opponent is until he learns who has qualified from the John Newcombe Group on Friday in Torino.



Medvedev finishes his 2024 season without a title for the first time since 2017. He reached finals at the Australian Open and Indian Wells, and compiled a 46-21 record overall.