(Rotterdam) Who will stop Jannik Sinner? Already a winner in Montpellier last weekend, the Italian confirmed his sparkling form by making short work of Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka 6-1, 6-3 in the quarter-finals of the Rotterdam Tennis Tournament on Friday.
This rapid success, acquired in one hour and eleven minutes against the darling of the local public, allows the 14e world player to join in the last four, the Russian Daniil Medvedev (seeded N.6) and the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov who will be opposed on Saturday.
Sinner will face the Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor who had received an invitation to be part of the final draw and who took over his compatriot Gijs Brouwer on Friday (6-4, 6-4).
After a one-sided first round between the Italian prodigy (21 years old) and the Swiss veteran (37 years old), the second set was more contested and embellished with very beautiful exchanges. But the combativeness of “Stanimal” was not enough.
After having eliminated the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, seeded N.1 and recent Australian Open finalist the day before, Sinner has therefore pinned another big name to his list even if Wawrinka is only 130 left.e at the ATP after two almost white seasons marred by injuries.
But the three-time Grand Slam winner (Australia in 2014, Roland-Garros in 2015 and the United States Open in 2016) can be satisfied with his week, having notably taken over the Frenchman Richard Gasquet. Thursday, he explained “having played his best tennis in months.
Victorious in Rotterdam in 2015, the native of Lausanne still believes he is “capable of obtaining great results this year”.
Sinner, he can legitimately believe in the final victory in the Netherlands even if Dimitrov and Medvedev also remain on good performances.
The Russian, seeded N.6, also succeeded in eliminating Félix Auger-Aliassime, seeded N.3 and defending champion: 6-2, 6-4.
The Canadian, who had won his first ATP title a year ago in Rotterdam, did not find the key against an opponent who is slowly becoming his pet peeve: in five confrontations, Medvedev has always won. On Friday, “FAA” mainly committed twenty unforced errors for only five to his opponent.
