WORLD number one Jannik Sinner continued his unblemished record at the ATP Finals thanks to a 6-3 6-4 triumph over Russian Daniil Medvedev. The Italian won 6-3 6-4 on the final day of the round robin portion for the tournament to secure a perfect 3-0 record without dropping a set.

Sinner’s victory meant he topped the Ilie Nastase Group and will take on the runner-up of the John Newcombe Group on Saturday. He won 23 of 28 first serve points (82 per cent) and 15 of 21 second serve points (71 per cent) in a strong performance on serve against the fourth seed and 2020 champion. He also saved one of only two break points he faced, while breaking three times himself.

“I’m trying to find new ways to improve as a player,” Sinner said post-match. “I’m trying to win as many matches here as I can. Me and Daniil, we know each other very well. So, everytime we step on court, we try to change something tactically. I felt like I was ready to see what he was going to do today.

“I know what I have achieved during this year, so I try to step on court with a good mindset. I have beautiful people around me who support me daily, which for me is really important. I try to enjoy my time on the court. The atmosphere here is amazing, so I’m just trying to play some good tennis this week. Let’s see what’s coming in the next round.”

The 23-year-old will be joined in the semi-finals by American Taylor Fritz who secured his spot in the last four thanks to a come-from-behind victory over Aussie Alex de Minaur. Bouncing back from a loss to Sinner the match before, Fritz found himself down early as the seventh seed took the first set 7-5. However for the first time all tournament, the match went to a deciding third set after Fritz closed out the second, and eventually won in two hours and eight minutes, 5-7 6-4 6-3.

“It’s tough, because even though I won the match, I feel like there wasn’t necessarily any moment when I feel like I had a repeatable way to win from the baseline, to be honest,” Fritz said post-match. “He was all over me. What I did a great job of was towards the end of the second set, I really started to find my serve. I was serving much better and that allowed me to just stay with it and create more pressure on his service games.

“When I wasn’t making the first serves, he was just killing me from the baseline, so it just gave me a little bit of comfort to just stay in the match and not be under so much pressure all the time. I was able to just come up with some good shots at some good times, play off some of his mistakes, but it was still incredibly tough.”

Fritz won 84 per cent of his first serve points, and though he struggled off his second serve (46 per cent), still served six aces and was able to break three times to two throughout the course of the match. The American admitted he was feeling the strain of such a long year but was motivated to finish it off strongly.

“I think a lot of us are pretty beat up,” he said. “But if I’m in the semis of the [Nitto ATP Finals], I’ve got energy to give.”