In Shanghai, Sinner Overcomes Baez to Continue Winning
On Sunday in Shanghai, Jannik Sinner defeated Sebastian Baez to raise his record to 51-13 for the year.By ATP Employees
At the Rolex Shanghai Masters on Sunday, Jannik Sinner persevered to continue his winning streak in Asia. The sixth seed defeated Sebastian Baez 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 to secure a place in the ATP Masters 1000 fourth round.
Winner of Beijing, Sinner, defeated the always tough Baez to win for the eighth time in a row. He completed a two-hour victory inside the Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena by driving 29 wins and committing just 11 unintentional mistakes.
After Alcaraz and Medvedev, Sinner became the third player to win 20 Masters 1000 matches this year. “I was expecting a very tough match,” Sinner stated. In the opening set, he was playing quite well.
“I tried to play a little more aggressively in the second set, and it worked well. It is a little bit simpler to get into the rhythm when you begin by breaking apart right away in the second. I’m rather pleased with the way I handled the circumstance.
Sinner, who won his first Masters 1000 trophy in August in Toronto after defeating Daniil Medvedev and Carlos Alcaraz back-to-back to win the title in Beijing, was continuing his recent run of excellent play. He had secured his place in the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals with his opening-round victory against Marcos Giron in Shanghai. Despite Baez getting out to a quick start in their first-ever Lexus ATP Head2Head match, he played with a carefree demeanor against the Argentine.
The 25th seed Baez took an early 4-1 lead and held on to win the first set, but as the match went on, he was unable to keep up with Sinner’s increasing skill. The Italian, who has significantly improved recently in this area of his game, was excellent at the net once more. Going ahead, Sinner won 68% (15/22) of the points.
See Also: Sinner Earns First-Time Qualifying Spot for Nitto ATP Finals
Sinner’s next challenge in his quest for a second Masters 1000 title is a matchup with Ben Shelton in the fourth round. Earlier on Sunday, the #NextGenATP American won 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 over Roman Safiullin.
“This will be our first encounter,” Sinner remarked about the Shelton match. “We haven’t even shared a practice. It will be entirely new, and I’m excited about it. He plays really well and serves big, so I’m looking forward to the battle. We’ll wait and see, and ideally, there will be a nice fit.
Andrey Rublev, another player with a good chance to join Sinner in qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals, also won in Shanghai. The fifth seed defeated Quentin Halys 6-4, 7-5 to set up a match against the highly successful Adrian Mannarino, who defeated Tseng Chun-Hsin 6-2, 6-2 to record his eighth straight tour-level victory. In the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, Rublev is still in fifth place.
Both Grigori Dimitrov and Hubert Hurkacz increased their outside prospects of mounting a last-ditch charge to Turin. Hurkacz stopped the incredible journey of qualifier Hsu Yu Hsiou with a 6-4, 6-4 third-round victory, while Dimitrov defeated Alexander Vukic 6-4, 6-3 in a second-round match that was postponed from Saturday due to rain. Hurkacz is ranked 16th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, while Dimitrov is ranked 19th.
