Jannik Sinner lived up to the odds and reached the final at the Beijing ATP 500 for the third year in a row, but had to work harder than expected to defeat Alex de Minaur today. The Australian ace suffered his eleventh defeat against the Italian in as many matches played on the professional tour, but he managed to win at least one set thanks to some unusual mistakes by his opponent.
The world number 2 is not playing his best tennis in the Chinese capital and as he promised after the US Open final he is experimenting with new solutions to make his game more varied and unpredictable.
The 24-year-old Italian who lost the final to Carlos Alcaraz here last year will return to action against young American star Learner Tien tomorrow to try and win his second title in Beijing (he had already triumphed in 2023). As if that were not enough, the four-time Grand Slam champion will play his 30th final on the professional tour and will go in search of his third title in 2025 after the Australian Open and Wimbledon Championships.
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Sinner in the final again
After the final of the Beijing ATP 500, Jannik will not have much time to rest having to defend his title at the Shanghai Masters 1000.
Speaking on Eurosport, Nicolas Mahut analyzed the performance of the former world number 1 in detail: "I think it was quite a strange match: Sinner had no problems at the beginning, before a second set that was more complicated than expected. At one point, he also felt some physical issues and the fans were worried, but in the third set he got the better of his rival again."
The French also added: "De Minaur will definitely be disappointed to lose in the semi-finals, but he fought and showed for the first time that he could do something against Sinner. I don't think Jannik is fully satisfied with his performance today, having made many more mistakes than his standards."
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The Italian star immediately made it clear that he does not have any serious injuries.
