Jannik Sinner defeats Daniil Medvedev, reaches Shanghai SFs | ATP Tour

Match Report

Sinner maintains momentum vs. Medvedev, reaches Shanghai SFs

World No. 1 to face Alcaraz or Machac in last four at ATP Masters 1000

October 10, 2024

Jannik Sinner continued his momentum in his Lexus ATP Head2Head rivalry against Daniil Medvedev on Thursday with a stylish quarter-final victory at the Rolex Shanghai Masters.

The No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings eased to a 6-1, 6-4 victory against the fifth-seeded Medvedev to reach his fifth ATP Masters 1000 semi-final of the season. Sinner made a red-hot start inside Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena and barely looked back to overwhelm Medvedev, who received treatment on his shoulder from the physio midway through the second set.

“Obviously I’m very happy how I handled today and this match,” said Sinner. “It felt like he had a bit of shoulder pain and couldn’t hit his forehand as well as he wished to. Hopefully he can recover as fast as possible, but from my side it was a great match, a great battle, and let’s see what I can do now in the semi-finals.”

Sinner lost his first six tour-level meetings against Medvedev up until the 2023 Miami final. Since then, the Italian has prevailed in six of the pair’s seven encounters to level their Lexus ATP Head2Head series at 7-7. His latest victory was earned with a confident, clean-hitting display in which he faced just one break point, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

Into the semi-finals 🔥@janniksin takes out Medvedev 6-1 6-4 to reach his 10th career ATP Masters 1000 SF in Shanghai 💪@SH_RolexMasters | #RolexShanghaiMasters pic.twitter.com/1oAqBI6TLA

— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 10, 2024

Although Medvedev struggled physically at times, he was given hardly any chance to work his way into the match by Sinner, who powered to the first set after dropping just three points on serve. The second set was more of a contest, but the Italian broke serve decisively in the fifth game en route to an 85-minute triumph.

“It’s better [than my career expectations],” said Sinner, when asked about reaching his 10th Masters 1000 semi-final. “You cannot plan when you are young. You never know what is going to happen in your career. You just try to improve daily.

“Obviously I’m very happy to be in this position. Being in the semi-finals of a Masters is always a big step forward. It’s a huge accomplishment from my side, but we try to keep going, we try to improve and see what I can do. But talking about today, it was a great match, and I’m looking forward to the semis.”

Now into the semi-finals in Shanghai for the first time, Sinner will take on third seed Carlos Alcaraz or Tomas Machac for a spot in the championship match. If his next opponent is Alcaraz, whose coach Juan Carlos Ferrero was in the stands to watch Sinner beat Medvedev, it will be a rematch of the thrilling China Open final from just eight days ago, when the Spaniard edged Sinner in a deciding-set tie-break.

By downing Medvedev for his 63rd tour-level victory of the season, Sinner also took another step towards securing ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by PIF honours. The 23-year-old now leads second-placed Alcaraz by 3,020 points in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, although the Spaniard can reduce that gap by 200 points by defeating Machac later on Thursday.