Jannik Sinner defeats Novak Djokovic in Shanghai closing | ATP Tour

Match Report

Sinner in seventh heaven with dominant Shanghai closing win vs. Djokovic

Italian clinches fourth ATP Masters 1000 title 

October 13, 2024

Jannik Sinner produced a commanding show in opposition to Novak Djokovic to raise his Tour-leading seventh title of 2024 on Sunday on the Rolex Shanghai Masters.

The Italian didn’t blink in a 7-6(4), 6-3 triumph, turning into the primary man to win greater than six titles in a calendar 12 months since Andy Murray gained 9 in 2016. Sinner clinched a high-octane first set by bettering to 24-8 in tie-breaks for the 12 months, earlier than surging to an finally unassailable 4-1 lead within the early phases of the second set.

“It was a really powerful match, clearly, enjoying in opposition to Novak is likely one of the hardest challenges we’ve,” stated Sinner, who levelled the pair’s Lexus ATP Head sequence at 4-4. “I’m very proud of how I dealt with the state of affairs. He was serving nice the primary set, I couldn’t discover a strategy to break him. I performed a extremely good tie-break which gave me confidence to start out off properly within the second set.

“It’s powerful to let you know a secret about [Djokovic] as a result of he doesn’t have any weaknesses. It’s a must to try to use the small probabilities that he provides you, however there should not many throughout the match. He’s a legend of our sport, he’s very powerful to play in opposition to, so I’m very completely happy.”

Just too good 🤌

The second @janniksin defeated the 4-time champion, Djokovic, for the Shanghai title 🏆@SH_RolexMasters | #RolexShanghaiMasters pic.twitter.com/NMYr3wIHim

— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 13, 2024

Djokovic, who was bidding to change into the third man to win 100 tour-level titles (Connors, Federer), was denied by the imperious serving of Sinner. The 23-year-old gained 81 per cent (21/26) of factors behind his first supply in an absorbing first set, in accordance with Infosys ATP Stats.

Sinner, who clinched ATP Yr-Finish No. 1 offered by PIF honours on Saturday along with his semi-final win over Tomas Machac, improved to 8-2 vs. Prime-5 gamers on exhausting courts this season. His solely two defeats got here in Indian Wells and Beijing in opposition to his nice rival Carlos Alcaraz, who watched Sunday’s closing in Shanghai from the stands alongside his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Previous to Sunday’s contest, Djokovic held an ideal 4-0 report in Shanghai finals, along with his sole win from behind coming in 2012 in opposition to Murray. Nevertheless, the 37-year-old was unable to spark a comeback in opposition to Sinner, who stood agency within the second set.

“I’ve had a number of success at Chinese language tournaments prior to now and hadn’t performed in China for 5 years, so I’ve missed it and I am actually glad that I got here this 12 months,” stated Djokovic on the trophy ceremony. “I believe I performed some actually good tennis, however congratulations to Jannik. He was simply too good right this moment. Too robust, too quick, properly executed. You are having an unbelievable 12 months. You deserve this.”

Regardless of experiencing troubles along with his left knee in his quarter-final and semi-final clashes, Djokovic moved properly all through the match. He was notably dialled in throughout the opening set, when he dropped simply three factors behind his second serve, in accordance with Infosys ATP Stats. Nevertheless, the gruelling nature of the battle with Sinner progressively appeared to take its toll on the World No. 4, whose serve was dismantled within the fourth sport of the second set.

The Champ @ROLEXMCMASTERS 🎾👑

🔑 to @janniksin‘s profitable run has been his persistently excessive Forehand #ShotQuality 📈#ShotQuality is calculated in real-time by analysing every shot’s velocity, spin, depth, width, and the influence it has on the opponent#TennisInsights | @atptour |… pic.twitter.com/WQOXzLyrdh

— Tennis Insights (@tennis_insights) October 13, 2024

From there, Sinner discovered an additional gear to cruise to a straight-sets victory, his third consecutive tour-level win over Djokovic. With the one-hour and 37-minute triumph, Sinner recorded his private greatest sixty fifth win in a season.

Sinner, the youngest champion in Shanghai event historical past, exuded confidence on serve all through the match. His serving prowess was underpinned by a gutsy maintain from 0/30 within the tenth sport when the pendulum seemed to be swinging in Djokovic’s favour.

“I’m very proud of my efficiency all through this entire event, it’s clearly a really particular one,” added Sinner, who grew to become the primary participant to win three ATP Masters 1000 titles in a single season since Rafael Nadal in 2018.