On Friday, ATP Finals reigning champions Jannik Sinner continued his incredible run of indoor hard court wins to 29 matches after beating the young American Ben Shelton 6-3, 7-6 (3) in Turin in a domination manner. This match was without any qualification implications with Sinner already securing the top spot in the Bjorn Borg Group and Shelton being out of the tournament after losing his first two matches.
Even though the Inalpi Arena was filled with a very relaxed atmosphere, Sinner didn’t drop his sharpness level. He broke Shelton’s serve in the very first game and again to finish the first set. Sinner broke a break point at 2-1 by delivering two perfect aces. “Serving very well in the most important moments is what brought me to this point,” said Sinner. “To win all three group matches, you must play at a very high level.”
Shelton came back with much better tennis in the second set. He served three times to love and on the fourth game, to save a match point at 5-4, Shelton was also very strong. He took Sinner to his first tiebreak at the ATP Finals in two years. The Italian, however, was very calm and he closed the match in straight sets.
Sinner’s endeavor to end the season as world No.1 was not successful when Carlos Alcaraz won the group as a clean sheet thus securing the year-end top ranking. The Spaniard was awarded his trophy before the match right on the court, and he still can play against Sinner in the final on Sunday.
“The mental side of me has been great so far,” Sinner said. “Let’s see what will happen next.”
