Sinner battles past Zverev to reach Cincinnati final

pa href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/jannik-sinner/s0ag/overview'Jannik Sinner/a defeated a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/alexander-zverev/z355/overview'Alexander Zverev/a on Sunday in a thrilling a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/cincinnati/422/overview'Cincinnati Open/a semi-final in which the No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings showed both his skill and heart./p

pDespite limping at times and favouring his hip, which has plagued him recently, the Italian produced stunning shotmaking to oust the 2021 Cincinnati champion 7-6(9), 5-7, 7-6(4) in three hours and seven minutes. The top seed will play 15th seednbsp;a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/holger-rune/r0dg/overview'Holger Rune/anbsp;or home favouritenbsp;a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/frances-tiafoe/td51/overview'Frances Tiafoe/anbsp;in Monday eveningrsquo;s championship match./p

pldquo;Sometimes you have to play a bit with the gut feeling. And I think this today was, my strength,rdquo; Sinner said in his on-court interview. ldquo;[There were] some up and downs, which can happen, especially when you play [for] more than three hours. It was a good match, I think for both of us. He served very, very well, so I can be very proud.rdquo;/p

blockquote class="twitter-tweet"

p lang="en" dir="ltr"JANNIK SINNER SURVIVES ????a href="https://twitter.com/janniksin?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"@janniksin/a is into his first a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CincyTennis?src=hashamp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"#CincyTennis/a final after defeating Zverev in a 3-set thriller!a href="https://twitter.com/CincyTennis?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"@CincyTennis/a a href="https://t.co/KnlPx7Wmhx"pic.twitter.com/KnlPx7Wmhx/a/p

mdash; ATP Tour (@atptour) a href="https://twitter.com/atptour/status/1825336306148446611?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"August 19, 2024/a/blockquote

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pWhen Sinner was unable to find a way to close out the match in straight sets and the Italian showed signs of increasing discomfort in his hip, it seemed the consistent Zverev was well-positioned to move within a victory of his second title at the Lindner Family Tennis Center./p

pBut instead the World No. 1 produced blistering play to narrow the deficit in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with the German to 2-4. He had lost his past four matches against Zverev./p

pldquo;It means a lot to me. It's a very different moment, what I'm going through, so I'm very happy about this result," Sinner said. "The physical aspect, of course, I have to improve, because if I want to win Grand Slams or a bigger title, I have to be, for sure, more in shape. But I just tried to stay there mentally, which I'm very proud [of], and let's see what's coming tomorrow.rdquo;/p

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pAfter Sinner crushed a forehand return winner up the line on the full stretch to take a 6/3 lead in the final-set tie-break, all Zverev could do was bend over in disbelief. His 23-year-old opponent had taken the match from him at the most critical moment./p

pSinner had not advanced past the Round of 16 before this edition. Now he is one victory from claiming a Tour-leading fifth title of the season.nbsp;/p

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pZverev had his fair share of opportunities. The 27-year-old served for the first set, but played a sloppy service game to allow his opponent back into it. After rain suspended play, Sinner was then able to save two set points before taking the opener./p

pAn afternoon match suspended by rain turned into an evening match on centre court. Sinner won 64 per cent of his second-serve points compared to 53 per cent for Zverev, which proved key./p

pldquo;[It was] a tough match, an exciting match. [The] atmosphere has been amazing throughout the whole match,rdquo; Sinner said. ldquo;Many, many different conditions. We started off with [it] sunny, then after came the rain. Now [it] was night session, so we had a lot of tension for both of us. I'm very happy about this performance, and obviously very happy to be in the final.rdquo;/p

pHad Zverev won the title, he would have climbed to No. 2 in the PIF ATP Rankings. The German still leads the ATP Tour in wins this season with 52 according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index./p

p[NEWSLETTER FORM]/p