De Minaur no match for Sinner in ATP Finals opener

Alex de Minaur’s first ATP Finals match ended in defeat, with the Australian losing in straight sets to world No.1 Jannik Sinner in Turin on Monday morning (AEDT).

Sinner came into the match with a 7-0 lead in the pair’s head-to-head standings and took just an hour and 25 minutes to clinch a 6-3, 6-4 victory.

The Italian gave up just one break-point opportunity across the match, while his pace and consistency from the baseline drove de Minaur to an uncharacteristic number of unforced errors (28).

“Considering how long since I last played, I’m very happy,” Sinner said.

“I started off with some unforced errors.

“He was playing great in the beginning of the match, so I just tried to stay there mentally, knowing that hopefully at some point my tennis would arrive.

“It arrived quite early, and I started to return very well.”

In the other match of the day, Taylor Fritz continued his strong form on hardcourts to beat Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 6-3.

The first set was a tight, on-serve affair until Medvedev bizarrely capitulated in the 10th game, serving up three double faults in a row from 30-15 to concede the set.

Fritz missed out on two break points early in the second set but made amends when he won on Medvedev’s serve in the sixth game.

One break was enough to claim the set and match, with Fritz finishing a rock-solid day on serve with nine aces and 85% of first-serve points won.

“The serve was a big part of it, for sure,” the American said when asked about the key to his victory.

“He’s such a good returner.

“You can make a lot of first serves, but if they are not very high quality, he just puts so many returns in the court.

“It was huge for me, I hit a lot of lines, a lot of spots to start out games.

“I got out of a lot of service games with no pressure.

“Some of the ones we got tight in, I was either able to grind through the long rallies or get myself some free points.”

The Ilie Nastase Group now has a day off at the ATP Finals, with the John Newcombe Group playing on Monday.

Carlos Alcaraz takes on Casper Ruud as a -1428.57 favourite with top online bookmakers, while Alexander Zverev is paying -333.33 to defeat Andrey Rublev (+250).

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