Jannik Sinner got his third career final at an ATP Masters 1000 event, and he did it at the National Bank Open in Toronto. The Italians are aware that they have a great opportunity to add one of the most important tournaments on the circuit to their collection and, this time, they seem intent on dispelling that tension and fear with a backhand that they probably paid dearly for in the past.
Sinner attacked the game and was able to put pressure on Tommy Paul by keeping his feet firmly on the baseline line. The scheme agreed with his team emerged with arrogance during the match: push on the accelerator to take away space and time from the rival.
The 6-4, 6-4 gained in an hour and 56 minutes of play has done nothing but increase the confidence and self-esteem of a 21-year-old born in San Candido and determined to write his own history in the world of tennis. For Sinner this is the eleventh overall final in the major circuit, the fourth in 2023.
The Italian immediately remedied the false start that saw him miss a comfortable forehand on the break point granted to Paul in the opening game.
In fact, in the following game, Sinner pushed in response and forced the American into a very complicated recovery with a forehand. Another effective backhand return allowed the Italian to surprise Paul again at 3-1.
Just when the set seemed to be in his hands, however, Paul played the best game and signed the counter break. The American did not manage the fifth innings with equal authority and went out of turn with the forehand on the set point offered to Sinner.
In the opening stages of the second set, Paul called in his physio for a lower back problem. At the end of the medical time out, the Voorhees player gave up his serve closing with a heavy double fault.
Up 3-1, Sinner canceled four break points between the fifth and seventh game, masterfully defending himself from the backhand side and bringing home an endless exchange, but lost control of the forehand at 5-3. The Italian averted the problems without repeating the same mistake he made in the match with Gael Monfils and extinguished any thoughts of a comeback by closing on the third match point.
Sinner’s opponent in the last act of the Toronto Masters 1000 will be Alex de Minaur. The meeting between the Australian and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, which ended with a score of 6-1, 6-3, was strongly conditioned by the wind.
The Spaniard took care of making life easy for De Minaur, who finished the match with a total of 38 free errors and never really got into the game. Suffice it to say that he only held serve once in eight servings.
Not even time to take the field and Davidovich Fokina sent a message to the Australian by miscalibrating a far from impossible passerby. De Minaur had the credit of saving two break points in the fifth game and taking the double lead in the following game.
In the second half of the game, the break festival took place and awarded the prize to De Minaur: able to win five out of eight.
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