The current number 4 in world tennis, Serbian Novak Djokovicwill play the final of the Shanghai 1,000 Masters against the best tennis player of the year, the Italian Jannik Sinner, after beating the American Taylor Fritz in the second semifinal 6-4 and 7-6 (6).
Djokovic had predicted another “tough match” against an outstanding server like Fritz: “I’ll have to be prepared for another close game. With such fast conditions, serving well is a big advantage. “I know what awaits me, but I hope to be fresh.”
And, of course, the Serbian focused his game on the rest from the first moment: on Fritz’s first serve, he forced the American to save up to three breaking balls. And in the fifth game, he finally took the lead to take the set in his face.
Not that Fritz was particularly brilliant at his service either. During the first set, all the statistics pointed to Djokovic’s being better, Just like in the defensive game.
The second set began more evenly, and precisely in a disputed fifth game in which Fritz saved the break – up to 8 of 9 break balls frustrated the American throughout the match – the Serbian set off the alarm by taking the hand. to his battered right knee with a gesture of pain.
The Balkan is tough and ended up recovering. But the problems would appear again at the end of the eleventh game, and this time it seemed something more serious: Djokovic had to ask for a break to receive assistance from the physio due to pain in the left side of his hip, that had made him limp in the previous minutes.
Although this made him more flawed, ‘Nole’ did not let Fritz, who had wasted the opportunity to break him in the eighth game and He also wasted a set point, I smelled the blood. Thus, he ended up sealing his access to the final via tie break at one hour and 56 minutes.
The tennis player who has spent the longest time at the top of the ATP ranking in history keeps alive his options to stand out even more as a dominator in Shanghai, a tournament in which he won four times (2012, 2013, 2015 and 2018) , more than any other. If he wins it this year, it would be the 100th trophy of his career.
This week, in addition, Djokovic is in the spotlight after the announcement of the withdrawal of his great rival, the Spanish Rafa Nadal, which will leave him as the only survivor of the ‘big 3’ that completed another legend like the Swiss Roger Federer: “It is overwhelming. I still enjoy competing, but an important part of me goes with them.”
The Belgrade native also extends his absolute dominance over Fritz: both members of the current ‘top 10’ in world tennis had played 9 matches so far, and all of them had fallen on Djokovic’s side, the last of them in the quarterfinals of the Open. Australia this year.
Fritz had already joked with that statistic after his last game, confessing himself “excited” at the possibility of achieving his first victory against Djokovic, something that, in any case, he described as “incredibly difficult”: “One of these times it will be my turn, I am getting better and better.”
The ‘Djoker’ had to come back in the quarterfinals against the young Czech Jakub Mensik (6-7 (4), 6-1, 6-4). Previously, he had achieved victories against the American Alex Michelsen (7-6 (3), 7-6 (9)), the Italian Flavio Cobolli (6-1, 6-2) and the Russian Roman Safiullin (6-3, 6 -2).
Fritz, for his part, had advanced rounds against the Frenchman Terence Atmane (7-6 (4), 7-6 (5)), the Japanese Yosuke Watanuki (6-3, 6-4), the Danish Holger Rune (6 -1 and 6-2 in just 55 minutes) and the Belgian David Goffin (6-3, 6-4).
AVV
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