Sinner shows his toughness on grass in Halle | ATP Tour

Halle

Sinner shows his toughness on grass in Halle

The Italian will face Zhang or Eubanks in the semifinals

June 21, 2024

Jannik Sinner seeks to take control of the ATP Tour and the conquest of grass presents enormous value to ensure it. The Italian reached the semifinals of the Terra Wortmann Open in Halle this Friday, where he debuts his status as world No. 1 surrounded by enormous expectation. Given the opportunity to win his first cup on grass, his strokes adjust to the low bounce of the ball to extend his authority.

The first seed had to roll up his sleeves in one of the most intense duels of the week, defeating German Jan-Lennard Struff 6-2, 6-7(1), 7-6(5), who defended his status as local for two hours and 33 minutes of the game. In a clash of increasing toughness, with no breaks in the last two rounds, Sinner demonstrated his mental strength to resist in critical moments. Although Struff saved the last 11 breaking points faced, the Italian ended up knocking down the wall in Germany.

“It was a very tough game,” Sinner said. “I had options in the second and third, but I couldn’t take advantage of them. I had 0/40 [en el primer juego del tercer set]. One has to accept those types of situations. Obviously it has also been very hard on a mental level. I’m happy to see myself in the next round. Yesterday I played a long match and today too – two and a half hours on grass is a long time. “I will try to recover for tomorrow, hopefully I can play good tennis.”

The Italian had to respond to a strong performance serving Struff, who was able to hit 18 aces and turn the match into a storm of speed. Far from panicking, Sinner reacted from the order, securing 85% of the points with his first serve (55/64) and conceding just one break point – which he annulled – in the entire match.

In his first grass tournament of the season, Sinner is showing absolute suffering capacity. The Italian has managed to survive in the final round in his three matches on the grass of Halle, resisting without margin of error the Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor and the Hungarian Fabian Marozsan before crossing his blows this Friday against one of the figures most supported by the fans local in Germany.

Sinner continues to write a stellar 2024, where he has managed to become the first Italian capable of climbing to world No. 1 in professional tennis. Jannik, who has a record of 36-3 this year, a record that includes his first Grand Slam crown, has managed to reach at least the semifinals in all the tournaments played this season.

Now, the opportunity to fight for glory is just two steps away for Sinner. The one from San Cándido will play the semifinals of the Terra Wortmann Open this Saturday against the Chinese Zhizhen Zhang or the American Christopher Eubanks, current champion on the grass of the Mallorca Championships.

For his part, Struff saw his unbeaten record on German soil this season broken. After lifting his first ATP Tour Cup in Munich and not playing in the quarterfinals in Stuttgart, the German accumulated a record of 8-0 on local soil. With Alexander Zverev standing in the other half of the draw, Jan-Lennard sought to keep alive the option of signing a 100% German final in Halle, something that has not happened in the entire history of the tournament.

Did you know…?
Jannik Sinner seeks the first ATP Tour title on grass of his career this week. The Italian, who has a balance of 15-8 on the surface and a sensational ability to adapt, has been one of the great protagonists in recent editions of Wimbledon. After reaching the quarterfinals (2022) and the semifinals (2023) in his two most recent visits to the All England Club, he seeks to add a new milestone on grass in Halle.