Another tournament, another final for Jannik Sinner: Defeats Alex de Minaur at Vienna Open

Jannik Sinner is in pole position again at the Vienna Open with the Italian again reaching another final. He eased past Alex de Minaur 6-3, 6-4 Saturday to reach the championship match in Austria.

By making his eighth final of the year, he becomes the first man to reach that feat in back-to-back seasons and joins good company in the current greatest ever in Novak Djokovic who did so back in 2015-16.

Sinner had not faced a break point in the first three matches at the ATP 500 however he lost his serve twice against the Aussie albeit he never panicked and managed to find his way through against an opponent he has great success over. He has an 11-0 Head-to-Head lead against him and while it can only take one win, it can also be the hardest hurdle to overcome.

When Sinner broke in the first game of the match, it was clear already that De MInaur was always going to face a tough uphill task to see off the World No.2.

But while Sinner did most of the hard graft and made it look easy, De Minaur did play his part as he gave Sinner something to think about on the run with stunning shotmaking and superb speed to try and fend him off. Paired with a power baseline masterclass, it proved to be a good counterpunch but not enough on his own serve as he struggled to do damage winning only 52% of his first serve points.

This allowed Sinner to work his way into another final. He has already won at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and Beijing this year and for once will not play Carlos Alcaraz who instead will in fact play just Paris, Davis Cup and Turin. Unlike Sinner who skips the Davis Cup this year much to the behest of figures in Italian media in the past week.

Only in Halle and Shanghai he has faltered as he aims to keep his hopes alive of ending the year as number one with Alcaraz now in firm control after winning the US Open and taking that top mantle off the great Italian. He now faces either Lorenzo Musetti who will look to dethrone Sinner in the final to make the ATP Finals or Alexander Zverev who indeed has already made it Turin but has not pulled an Elena Rybakina and withdrawn prior to his tie this afternoon. This after he got a walk-over yesterday. But Sinner is through and ready for another title.