Coric has more courage and in the decisive tie break eliminates Tsitsipas
[6] J. Sinner b. F. Cerundolo 7-5 6-3
However, a Sinner not at its best is right over a tignoso Cerundolo. However, these are comforting games, as it emerges the ability – typical of the best – to remain mentally solid and take home complicated games, even on difficult days.
Immediately following Thiem’s match, Sinner takes the field, with the stands that are emptied significantly with the spectators taking the opportunity to fill up on beer and hot dogs.
Jannik arrives at this meeting on the basis of the handsome debut match against Garin, and in general has shown remarkable solidity throughout the year, reaching at least the quarter-finals on nine occasions. Now there is only a few more high notes for the Italian to break through the top ten. Today against Cerundolo he finds another player who is certainly not an indoor specialist and who could be useful for regaining pace after the injury.
First set that begins with Sinner immediately determined that he starts well and breaks his opponent’s serve. Unfortunately, however, the Argentine immediately manages to put things back in place by also taking advantage of a shift in which Sinner is not flawless, serving several second serves. The Argentine plays as if he were on clay with large rotations and deep balls charged with effect, leaving Sinner the burden of making the match. Over time, the match proves to be more complicated than expected, with the Italian unable to shake off the Argentine’s resistance. This brings us to the ninth game in which Jannik goes to complicate his life dangerously with Cerundolo who from 40-0 below reaches a break point. However, the Altotesino manages to shake off his competitive torpor and brings home a fundamental game in the economy of the first set. However, we are certainly not seeing the best Sinner, the Italian does not seem to be moving at his best in situations, we hope that the ankle is not giving problems.
It therefore seems a set destined for a tie break, but on the most beautiful Cerundolo gives the Italian set with a horrible game full of unforced errors. A nice gift for the Italian who sincerely thanks.
In this first partial the Italian certainly did not enchant and indeed he risked a lot by conceding several unforced errors on the forehand side. This is seen above all in the points where the exchange manages to start but in which however Jannik fails to close under pressure as it should.
Second set that begins a bit like the first one ended, Cerundolo who continues in his confusional state and gives with a double fault and an unfortunate short ball the break at the opening to Sinner who this time solidly confirms the advantage and takes immediately at 3-0. It seems like the prologue to a quiet final game, but today Jannik’s engine is not running at full capacity and the Argentine manages to mend the tear for the umpteenth time, even to zero. Everything needs to be redone for Jannik, but fortunately on the other side of the net the Argentine is in the mood for gifts: yet another service break given to only one of unforced errors.
This is the turning point of the match, with Sinner managing a painful victory, with an ace in the final, after exactly 90 minutes. At the end of the match we at Ubitennis recovered some of Jannik’s words in the usual post-match interview:
Jannik, congratulations on a painful victory, on a day when you were not at the top:
“Definitely a very different game from yesterday’s happy one, but anyway I am. A difficult game, with very little rhythm; in the end these are the games you try to win, no matter how. However, in the important points I think I played well, and that’s what counts. Today I managed to take it home, but tomorrow I will certainly have to raise the level against Medvedev.
What could be the right strategy for tomorrow’s match? push as hard as Thiem today, or do you also accept prolonged dribbles?
It will be worth seeing, I have yet to talk about it with my team, it will certainly be a long game with many exchanges, against one of the best in the world. We both like to play indoors, let’s see how it will go tomorrow; surely he played an excellent match today against Dominick.
Physically how do you feel? is the body responding well?
Physically I feel fine, but when one comes back from an injury, one must always go carefully and see how it goes day after day. Today I felt a little discomfort in my ankle, but little thing, I really hope to be able to fix it for tomorrow. With Medvedev it will be a complicated game even mentally, but we’ll see