Jannik Sinner booked his place in the Italian Open final after defeating Tommy Paul over three sets.
Sinner overcame Paul to continue his winning streak, but the victory didn’t come without its difficulties.
The American took the first set 6-1, as the Italian crowd inside Campo Centrale fell silent, watching their home favourite nearly bagelled after Sinner dismantled Casper Ruud just 24 hours prior.
Sinner came back after Paul‘s hot start to win the match 1-6, 6-0, 6-3, to set up a first Masters 1000 final clash with Carlos Alcaraz at the Italian Open.
His early scare gave his coaching team pause for thought, however, with Sinner’s coach Darren Cahill feeling compelled to take the blame for his player’s first-set blunder.
Darren Cahill says he should have ‘reset’ Jannik Sinner before his match with Tommy Paul
Speaking on the match, Cahill told Sky Sports: “I give Tommy a lot of credit with the way he played. I thought he mixed up the game really well, served incredibly well, and kept that first serve percentage up.”
“But yeah, really difficult for Jannik after playing such a good match against Casper Ruud. Maybe my fault, a little bit as well, because you don’t really know as a coach how to prepare your player after they play so well.”
“It’s like winning a tournament. Maybe I should have reset him a little bit, like Formula One, back to the start of the grid.”
“Alright this a new match, new tournament, don’t worry about what you did last night, you have to go out there and start from scratch again.”
“I didn’t do that because I wanted to see if he could just keep the ball rolling in that fashion, and it didn’t, and Jannik, to his credit, was the one who made the adjustments along with Simone. I thought he did an incredible job to turn that around.”
Jannik Sinner’s injury update ahead of Italian Open final against Carlos Alcaraz
Sinner looked in discomfort during his match with Paul, raising concerns about his fitness heading into the final in Rome.
He limped on several occasions during the semi-final, but revealed after the match that it was a blister on his foot that was causing the pain.
He explained: “Since the third round, I have a small blister under my feet, which doesn’t allow me that well to move at some moments.”
“Today I felt it more than yesterday, and it’s connected with that. I am not concerned. It’s just a bit tight.”
Sinner will meet Alcaraz for the 11th time in their career, with the Spaniard currently leading the head-to-head 6-4.
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