‘Crowd is helping me’

Italy’s Jannik Sinner returns to USA’s Taylor Fritz in Turin on Tuesday. Pics/AFP

Jannik Sinner hit the accelerator at the end of each set as he cruised past Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-4 on Tuesday to close in on a semi-final spot at the ATP Finals in Turin. In September, Sinner had to overcome raucous home support to win his last meeting with the American as he claimed victory in the final of the US Open. This time, the Turin crowd was nosily behind the Italian. "The crowd is helping me a lot," said Sinner on the court.

Early pressure from Fritz

The hard-hitting Fritz, ranked No. 5, put pressure on Sinner's serve early in the first set. The American had the first break point of the match in the 14-minute seventh game but could not take his chance. Sinner responded at once, but wasted three break points in the next game before breaking to 15 in the 10th game to take the set. "I was struggling to return his serve but I am happy with how I handled the situation," said Sinner.

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Carlos Alcaraz during his win over Andrey Rublev yesterday

The second set also went with serve until the 10th game when Fritz double-faulted on Sinner's first match point. Meanwhile, Carlos Alcaraz opened his account here on Wednesday with a ing 6-3, 7-6 (10-8) win over Andrey Rublev. World No. 3 Alcaraz comfortably defeated Rublev to lift himself off the bottom of the John Newcombe Group and looked in much better form despite struggling with fatigue and illness in the lead-up to the match.

There had been some doubt as to whether Alcaraz would continue in Turin after quickly ending his training session on Tuesday, with his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero saying that he had trouble breathing. But the Spaniard, cruised to the first set in 38 minutes, breaking Rublev in game seven. And although he had a harder time of it in the second set, Alcaraz delighted fans in Turin with a series of spectacular shots which suggested he might be approaching his best form.

Bopanna-Ebden suffer second straight loss

Rohan Bopanna and his Australian partner Matthew Ebden's hopes of making the semi-finals at the ATP Finals here are all but over following their second straight defeat here on Wednesday. The sixth-seeded Indo-Aussie duo went down 5-7, 3-6 to the top-seeded pair of Marcelo Arevalo from El Salvador and Mate Pavic of Croatia, placing them at the bottom of the standings in the Bob Bryan group. Bopanna and Ebden as a team will be concluding their two-year partnership soon.

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