Two sets to zero for the blue, 6-3 6-4, who will now face Rublev, who did well to get rid of Zverev in three sets
Revenge is a dish best eaten cold, and Jannik Sinner served it in Vienna a year later. Francis Tiafoe couldn’t do anything this evening, and unlike 12 months ago it wouldn’t even have been useful to stage the same script, when 6-3 5-2 behind had made his opponent nervous, destabilizing him until he managed to win the mach. With this Sinner, it would have been useless. Why? Simple: blue is simply dominant in this part of the season. Rampant. The world number 4 in the Austrian ATP 500 with the victory in the quarter-finals against Tiafoe (6-3 6-4 in one hour and 19 minutes) reaches the ninth semi-final of the year and equals the Corrado Barazzutti record of 1978, with 54 victories in a year: it’s almost a given that he’ll beat him shortly thereafter. Maybe on Saturday, in the semi-final against a very dangerous Andrey Rublev, who got rid of Alexander Zverev in three sets (6-1 6-7 (5) 6-3). There’s no denying it: at this point and given the form of him and his rivals, Sinner is the favorite to win this tournament, and in view of the Finals in Turin, he and the fans can really dream.
script
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The match was one-sided. Ready, go, and in no time Sinner was already ahead 3-0, with Tiafoe confused and dazed. The first set went ahead with Jannik always holding serve with extreme calm, except in the seventh game, where the American had two break points to reopen the discussion, which were however annulled without too many worries. The blue’s second break arrived at 5-3, to 0, and closed the set. In the second we “fought” until 3-3, when Sinner pushed on the accelerator, winning the break, and then saving a break point in the following round, with a game (the only one) where the world no.4 he relaxed a little. The problem is that Tiafoe, to withstand the blow of the blue, had to perform a miracle, and play at a level that is not his, and he could only do it for occasional shots, certainly not with continuity. Sinner is clearly in “God mode”: he runs from all sides and hits with a cleanliness and confidence that have rarely been seen, he has never lost serve in the tournament, against Tiafo he hit 19 firsts in the last 20 in his rounds of joke. On the other side of the scoreboard in the semi-final a great classic will be staged, such as the one between Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas. The former beat Karen Kachanov in the Russian derby (6-3 3-6 6-3), the latter suffered but won against the Croatian Borna Gojo (7-6 (4) 7-5).