Alex de Minaur‘s six-year misery against Jannik Sinner has continued at the ATP Finals, losing to the Italian star for the 13th time in 13 attempts. The Aussie tennis star was knocked out in the semi-finals on Saturday night, going down fighting in a 7-5 6-2 loss to Sinner.
Cheered on by 13,000 adoring home fans in Turin, Sinner was sensational as he batted away everything de Minaur threw at hm. The Aussie is now 0-13 against the Wimbledon and Australian Open champ, and has only won two sets out of 31 against him.
Alex de Minaur lost to Jannik Sinner again at the ATP Finals, while Alexander Zverev was sensationally knocked out. Image: Getty/ATP
“I’m in a much better place,” de Minaur insisted after feeling wholly dejected when he lost to Lorenzo Musetti earlier in the tournament. He bounced back when he stunned Taylor Fritz to make the semis, but was no match for Sinner.
“I think today there was a lot of good stuff. Ultimately, we’ve just got to keep on improving. There’s no other way. To beat him, you’ve got to hit the ball very hard, very flat, very deep and very close to the lines. It’s obviously not the easiest thing to do. I need to serve well throughout the whole match, but my serve dropped a little and could have been better.”
Sinner admitted: “It was a tough match. I felt like he was serving great, very precise. In the second set, I broke very early and then my level rose. I tried to be a bit more aggressive and it worked well.”
Sinner will face Carlos Alcaraz in the final in another blockbuster between the top two players in the world. New No.1 Alcaraz beat Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-2 6-4 in the other semi.
Alexander Zverev ‘lost the plot’ in ATP Finals shocker
The tournament had been rocked by a major shock on Friday night when Auger-Aliassime beat Alexander Zverev to knock the World No.3 out. Auger-Aliassime – the World No.8 and lowest-ranked player in the eight-man field – won 6-4 7-6 (4) to join Sinner in advancing to the semis from the Bjorn Borg group.
Zverev missed a raft of opportunities against Auger-Aliassime, with leading reporter Jose Morgado saying he “lost the plot” at the end of the first set. The German then failed to convert any of his four break point opportunities and made 18 of his 27 unforced errors in the second set. The World No.3 repeatedly gestured towards his team in frustration, and cut a forlorn figure when the match was over.
Auger-Aliassime and de Minaur (No.7) both advanced to the semi-finals for the first time in their careers. “You want to be in the final but I’ll have to go through a great player to do that,” Auger-Aliassime had said of facing Alcaraz in the final four.
“It feels amazing. I always believed that I could be in these moments, that I could win these type of matches but you still have to to come and do it. Today was high in emotions I think for both of us … and I played good when I needed to … I’m blessed and so, so happy to be in the semi-finals.”
Alexander Zverev ‘lost the plot’ as he was knocked out of the ATP Finals. (Photo by Marco Canoniero/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Sam Stosur rejects suggestions about Alex de Minaur
Ahead of de Minaur’s clash, Aussie tennis great Stosur rejected suggestions he was simply making up the numbers. “It’s probably no secret that he doesn’t maybe have some of the huge weapons that a lot of these guys in the finals have,” Stosur said on ‘The Tennis’ podcast. “So he’s sort of up against it in that way when he plays back-to-back guys in the top-eight, top-10 all the time, which I think is showing in his record against them.
“But he’s one of them. He’s in the top eight. He didn’t buy his way in there, he’s earned every single point and every single spot to make himself qualify for Finals and be in the top eight in the world and finish an incredible year off.”
Alex de Minaur in action at the ATP Finals. (Photo by Fabrizio Carabelli/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
with AAP