Jannik Sinner battled through a tough contest against Alex de Minaur on Tuesday to advance to the China Open final.
The world number two, who has made a third consecutive China Open final, was made to work extremely hard by his Australian opponent.
However, de Minaur’s efforts failed to bear any fruit, as Sinner romped to victory in the final set.
Sinner, who won the contest 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, now has a record of 11-0 against the ‘Demon.’
The Italian has demonstrated excellent form following his US Open final loss to Carlos Alcaraz, and a shot he struggled with during that final was highlighted as a particular strength against de Minaur.
Annabel Croft praises Jannik Sinner’s second-serve performance on break points
Speaking on Sky Sports immediately after the match, former junior Wimbledon champion Annabel Croft highlighted Sinner’s strong serving performance on break points.
As per Sofascore, Sinner faced 12 break points during the match, saving 11.
“He [Sinner] was given such a stern test. Kept out there for two hours and 20 minutes,” Croft said.
“He [de Minaur] hasn’t taken too many sets off Sinner in his career, but oh my goodness he played so well for such a sustained period of time. He asked a lot of questions.
“Some of those really demanding physical points and long exchanges.
“There was a lot of experimenting going on with Sinner. We saw the serve volley, the drop shots brought in towards the back end of the match and him trying to force himself to play a little bit differently at times.
“But for me, the standout was the serve, particularly on second serve when facing break points.
“I have never seen such quality. There was a defiance about the way he played some of that match. It was courageous and the returns [were] always deep.
“It was Sinner doing what he does best and coming through clinically in the end.
“There were 28 winners, maybe a few more unforced errors than he would have liked, but a real stubbornness to get through that match.”
Sinner will face either young American star Learner Tien or former US Open champion Daniil Medvedev in the China Open final.
The Italian has never played Tien, but leads his head-to-head against Medvedev by eight victories to seven.
Sinner has won his last three contests against the Russian, most recently during the 2024 ATP Finals.
As for de Minaur, he was again unable to defeat the Italian. However, the Australian did manage to win a set against Sinner for the first time in five years.
Annabel Croft compares Sinner to Goran Ivanisevic
During the third set, Croft compared Sinner’s second serve to that of 2001 Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic.
Croft said: “It’s a stubbornness about the way he’s producing that second serve, and yeah it’s probably going to eat into de Minaur, [he] must be wondering what on earth is going on.
“Goran Ivanisevic was a bit like this on second serve sometimes.
She later added: “I must admit, I think this is also something different about [Sinner], I don’t remember talking about him going for second serves like that all the time, not on break-point down.
“We used to joke about Goran Ivanisevic, like rolling the dice, you didn’t know what was coming next. Bublik a bit like that as well.
“But I never think of Sinner doing that.”
