Sinner Dominates Zverev to Keep World No.1 Hopes Alive

Jannik Sinner came close to perfection on Saturday, destroying Alexander Zverev 6-0, 6-1 to get to the final of the Paris Masters and continue his quest towards the world No. 1 ranking.

The Italian star fired right on the first ball and broke Zverev in the first game and never gave a break. However, it was sinner who was able to take the first set within a span of just 30 minutes hitting 11 clean hits and only providing his opponent with one. The match already seemed out of bounds by the time Zverev was at last able to hold his own end early in the second set.

Sinner also completed the victory in a little under an hour, becoming the first to win 25 consecutive matches on indoor hard where he last participated. He will be in the final against the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime on Sunday.

The outcome also pushed Sinner further to surpass Carlos Alcaraz to the world No. 1. A win at Paris would put Sinner ahead of the Spaniard especially after Alcaraz succumbed to Britain’s Cameron Norrie in the round of 32 earlier this week. The final top ranking on the year end will, however, be determined at the ATP Finals in Turin beginning November 9.

On the post-match, Sinner complimented the resilience of Zverev but said that his opponent was not in full fitness after a challenging three-set quarter-final victory over Daniil Medvedev.
It is always a special game against Sascha, Sinner said. “But today he wasn’t 100%. He has been playing phenomenal tennis and has had a busy program. It is hoped that he would get back on his feet and be fit to Turin.

The triumph saw Sinner lead Zverev in their career head to head record at 5-4, including a win in the Vienna Open final last week and the Australian open final in January.

In the morning, ninth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime had followed up his good performance by beating Alexander Bublik, 7-6(3), 6-4. Canada rose to the eighth place in the ATP Race to Turin and retained its chances that it was to appear in the ATP Finals again.

Auger-Aliassime said: Masters 1000 final sounds so good. You do not come across opportunities like that. All I have to do is to remain focused and hopefully be holding the trophy tomorrow.

The last Sunday now offers a face off between two players who are in form, one who is looking to break history and the other is looking to redeem himself.

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