Jannik Sinner is into another semi-final, this time in Cincinnati, as he strives to add this Masters 1000 title to his ever-expanding trophy cabinet ahead of the US Open.
His 2024 has been mesmeric, but admittedly has stalled following a recent bout of illness and injury.
That has not stopped him from performing admirably across the board, reaching the semi-finals of Roland Garros and the quarters at Wimbledon, and now closing in on another top title.
However, he admitted that he did not have it all his own way against Andrey Rublev yesterday, days after Sinner dropped a fresh injury update too.
Jannik Sinner reviews his performance vs Andrey Rublev
Speaking to the Tennis Channel, Jannik Sinner reviewed what was a pretty remarkable comeback against Rublev, especially given the circumstances.
Finding himself a set down against a player who had only beaten him the week earlier in Canada, he summoned some almighty mental strength to rally back and cruise into the semi-finals of the Cincinnati Open.
He would tell Prakash Amritraj: ‘I feel like today was very, very difficult to play. It was very windy, especially in moments. There were moments when it was okay and then moments when it was very, very tough and windy.
‘The serving performance was very difficult. He returns very well so I tried to stay quite high with the percentage or as high as I could possibly do today.
‘I am very happy because I started off not feeling very well on court and just trying to go into the match a little bit, trying to find good rallies. I feel like in the third set I raised my level, I struggled to close it out, but I am happy with my level.
‘I felt like in the second set I had chances to break him but couldn’t use them in the beginning. I felt like every break point I had he was just serving very good. You have to accept that.’
Jannik Sinner is surely the favourite to win the Cincinnati Open
With players like Carlos Alcaraz having been knocked out, and Novak Djokovic not even entering the event, Sinner is the comfortable favourite to now go on and win this event for the first time.
Although, as is always the case in the uber-competitive ATP scene, it will not be easy.
Should he overcome Alexander Zverev in his next match, then surely the winner of the other semi-final should be a far easier proposition for him to defeat.
After all, based on ranking, the German remains the best player left in the competition aside from Sinner, the world number one.
The only fear is that, historically, the Italian has struggled against Zverev, winning just one of their five meetings back in 2020.
Since then, he has been dumped out of the US Open on two occasions by the 27-year-old, who promises a tough task for anyone to beat.
Sinner though, with the form he has posted throughout this year, must remain the favourite, and it is widely expected that the winner of this semi-final should go on to claim the trophy.
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