Star Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner beat Ben Shelton 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) on Friday, completing a flawless group stage in his ATP Finals title defence.
Italian Sinner took one hour and 35 minutes to overcome a determined Shelton, who exited his debut Finals in Turin without a win from his three matches in the Bjorn Borg Group.
Chants of Sinner’s name echoed loudly around the Inapli Arena as delighted fans celebrated their hero, who was all smiles despite losing the year-end world number one spot to Carlos Alcaraz.
“Obviously, I’m really happy to be in the semi-finals, to play tomorrow with good energy levels; let’s see how we go,” Sinner said on court.
“We’re trying to do the right things, and thankfully they’re working. Tomorrow is a big match;
let’s try to go as far as we can in the tournament.”
Sinner will face Alex de Minaur in the first semi-final on Saturday afternoon, where he will be the favourite to reach his third final in as many years at the season-ending tournament.
The 24-year-old hasn’t dropped a set at the Finals since losing the 2023 final to Novak Djokovic and hasn’t even had to play his best tennis to secure wins against three of the world’s top players.
Sinner started Friday’s match by immediately breaking Shelton’s serve and maintained the pressure, never giving Shelton, the world number five, any chance of victory, smashing in second serves as fast as 190kph (118mph).
“Tough to finish out the season like this, 0-3 at the Finals. For me, obviously a great year. A lot of positives,” Shelton told reporters.
“This will just make me work harder in the off-season and make me even more excited for the 2026 season. But yeah, it stings, for sure.”
Sinner is on course for yet another final showdown against Alcaraz, who was awarded the top spot in the men’s rankings for the end of the 2025 campaign before Friday’s match.
Alcaraz, who secured the top 2025 ranking by defeating Sinner’s countryman Lorenzo Musetti on Thursday night, has won four of his five meetings with Sinner this season, all in top-level tournament finals, with two deciding Grand Slams.
Sinner triumphed at Wimbledon but lost one of the greatest tennis matches ever played when he squandered a two-set lead in the French Open final in June.
The semi-final line-up will be completed later on Friday when Alexander Zverev and Felix Auger-Aliassime battle for the chance to finish second behind Sinner and set up a last-four clash with Alcaraz.
(With AFP Inputs)
