As happened recently in Dubai, then in the second round,
Jannik Sinner
closed the way to
Roberto Bautista
, this time in a more profound trance, the Miami semifinals.
The Italian, an example of courage and character, won 5-7, 6-4 and 6-4, in two hours and 28 minutes, and will play this Sunday, against the winner of the match between
Andrey Rublev
and
Huber Hurkacz
, his first final of a tournament of this category.
After winning the ATP Finals for young players in 2019, taking the title in Sofia last year and winning the Melbourne 1 tournament earlier in the season, Sinner has not been a player on the circuit for a long time.
At 19, he has made good use of the Miami Masters 1000, marked by numerous absences, to emit forceful symptoms about his ambitious goals.
It is no longer just about a tennis player with a great future, but one can talk about his present.
Only three players under the age of 20 have reached the final of this tournament:
Agassi
, at 19,
made it his own
in 1990;
Nadal
lost it,
aged
18, in the famous five-set match against Federer in 2005;
and
Djokovic
took it
, with 19, in 2007.
Said
Alexander Bublik
, his victim in the
quarterfinals, which Sinner played like a robot.
And he commented on it in a complimentary tone, given the imperturbable character and the rigor of his automatisms on the track.
In his first semifinal of a tournament of this rank, the Italian did not mind giving up his service from the beginning and then missing two chances to win it back.
It was only the first of the tests that Bautista would subject him to.
He maintained stability and managed to equalize the set at three games.
He made it clear that he would not be able to respect an opponent 13 years older than him and with much more renown in the competition.
The man from Castellón was not short of self-esteem either.
He came from defeating
Daniil Medvedev
, world number two, after saving a
match point
in the previous game, against veteran
John Isner
.
A finalist in Doha and Montpellier, Bautista remains a difficult opponent on any surface, but even more so on hard court, where he has obtained his best results.
In an even first set, the Spanish broke again in the eleventh game and finished it off with his serve.
The Spaniard had more than half a game in hand with four
break
balls
in the seventh game of the second set and the score equaled three.
They were saved by Sinner, who is uncommonly fluent for his age in delicate situations.
Bautista had to quell the boy's attacks, who went with everything in each blow, oblivious to the wind that complicated the actions of both.
Not only did Sinner neutralize the threat, he rewarded his drive and took the set.
Physically more whole, he also returned from a break in the third game of the final set and broke blank in the last of the game.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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See links of interest
2021 business calendar
Alba Berlin - Valencia Basket
Bautista - Sinner, live
Fenerbahce Istanbul - Barça
Real Madrid - Olympiacos, live
Levante - Huesca