Here comes the third final from “1000”, always on hard courts and always in North America for Jannik Sinner, who arrived in the last act of the “National Bank Open”, sixth ATP Masters 1000 of the season, with a prize pool of $6,660,975, staged on Toronto concrete (where it is held in alternate years with Montreal), in Canada. Sunday the South Tyrolean will go hunting for that trophy that escaped him in Miami 2021 (beaten by Hurkacz) and again in Miami 2023 (stopped by Medvedev). But also of the “best ranking”: in case of victory he would rise to n.6 ATP.
Jannik’s will be the fifth “1000” final with a blue star: in addition to the two already mentioned by Sinner, there was that of Monte-Carlo 2019 when Fognini conquered a historic trophy by beating Lajovic, and that of Madrid 2021 when Berrettini lost in three sets to Zverev.
In the semifinals the tennis player from Sesto Pusteria (who will turn 22 on Wednesday), n.8 in the ranking and 7 in the seeding, hit 64 64, in one hour and 56 minutes of match, American Tommy Paul, 26-year-old from Voorhees, New Jersey, No. 14 ATP and 12th seed, never so ahead in a “1000”. Above all, Jannik’s deadly response made the difference (with a percentage higher than 55% he is the player to have won more points on the opponent’s second this season), which allowed him to hit the eleventh final in his career (7 trophies already placed on the showcase). For the blue on the scoresheet the same number of free winners and errors, 14, while for Paaul the balance was 19 against 13.