In his 400th professional match, Jannik Sinner put in an impressive performance, defeating American Ben Shelton 6-3, 6-3. The victory extended Sinner's indoor winning streak to 24 matches, dating back to November 2023. If he wins his fifth title of the season - and his first ATP Masters 1000 title of 2025 - the Italian will return to world number one next Monday.
Sinner is in good form at the Paris Masters (Photo: Getty).
“It was a very difficult match. Against Ben, you can’t control much because of his great serve, but I felt like I returned serve very well today,” said Sinner, who won 71% of his second-serve points. “From the baseline, I played very solid and aggressive, so I was very happy with the match today,” he added.
Sinner made no errors on his backhand, his signature weapon, and just 10 on his forehand. The Italian looked hungry on his second serve returns and showed quick reflexes against Shelton's powerful serves.
After securing set point in the ninth game of the opening set, Sinner took his second chance to close out the 34-minute set with a fine finish: he dodged Shelton's powerful serve, then hit a backhand into the open court to end the set.
In the second set, Sinner faltered slightly after leading 3-1 and was broken, before Shelton scored with a forehand curler. However, Sinner quickly regained his composure, capitalizing on a double fault in game 8 – after a daring 120 mph second serve – to take the lead and close out the match after 69 minutes.
With his quarter-final win, Sinner became the first Italian player to reach the semi-finals of the Paris Masters, and set a record of 43 semi-finals at the ATP Tour level, surpassing Fabio Fognini and Adriano Panatta. Notably, before this tournament, Sinner had only won one of his three Paris Masters appearances.
Since losing to Shelton in their first meeting in Shanghai two years ago, Sinner has won seven straight matches against the 23-year-old. He is also on a 22-match winning streak against Americans, and a 14-match winning streak against left-handers in the same period.
Zverev is firmly on his way to defending his title at the Paris Masters (Photo: Getty).
Alexander Zverev had a dramatic victory at the Paris Masters, ending a five-match losing streak against Daniil Medvedev with a score of 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(5). This result helped Zverev to reach the semi-finals, where he will face second seed Jannik Sinner - a rematch of last week's Vienna final, which the Italian won. Meanwhile, Medvedev's chance to play at the ATP Finals has officially closed.
“What I am most satisfied with is the points saved, the way I continued to play bravely and won in important moments,” Zverev shared after the match.
From the start, Medvedev used his familiar deep return strategy, forcing Zverev to counter with serves - either to the net or drop shots. The German fell in the eighth game and suffered a minor left hamstring problem, but then changed his strategy, making the most of his power. The defending champion accelerated and began to apply pressure from the back of the court.
“I felt like I played well at the beginning, but my strategy was really bad. I had a good feeling, I thought I could turn the game around because I was really confident with my shots, but again I didn’t play well. Then I changed a few things in my strategy and I broke my serve. He helped me do that too (when I was leading 1-0 in the second set),” Zverev added.
Facing two match points while serving in the 10th game of the deciding set, Zverev kept his composure despite Medvedev's high spirits. He converted the opportunity, although he later missed a similar shot when leading 5-3 in the tiebreak.
In the 2-hour-and-30-minute match, the 28-year-old saved match points twice, winning a crucial point in a 27-shot rally, ending with a decisive winner. Finally, Zverev sealed the win in a tense tie-break. Zverev now has an 8-14 head-to-head record against Medvedev and will be aiming to break the 4-4 tie with Sinner.
“Daniil is like my nemesis, I don’t like playing against him. He’s been my friend for the past few years. I’m really happy with this win. Last Sunday we had a great match with Jannik. I’m happy to see him again, and hopefully we’ll have another great match,” Zverev said with a smile.
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/sinner-doi-dau-duong-kim-vo-dich-zverev-tai-ban-ket-paris-masters-20251101105652092.htm
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