Jannik Sinner was desperately unfortunate to have his remarkable form once again halted yesterday, but conversely, Stefanos Tsitsipas was good value for the win.
Having taken the first set, a tougher second set saw a decider invoked and the stakes raised dramatically.
For the latter, it marked a huge chance to topple the world number two player and reach his first final since he overcame Alex De Minaur in the Los Cabos Open in August.
Meanwhile, for the 22-year-old, it offered the chance to continue his run in 2024 with just a single loss, which had garnered praise from Andy Roddick.
Unfortunately, despite Tsitsipas coming out on top, the match was marred by one controversial flashpoint.
Jannik Sinner speaks up on Monte-Carlo Masters controversy
Speaking immediately after yesterday’s controversial loss to the world number 12, Sinner was rather magnanimous despite the scrutiny that has followed such a monumental call.
As Tsitsipas was a break point down against the young Italian in that finalset, he struck a second serve that was quite clearly a good metre or so out.
However, no call was made and Sinner played on, eventually losing the point, the subsequent game, and then the match.
In a dramatic turn of events the 25-year-old snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, but was largely helped out by a monumental gaffe from the chair umpire.
And yet, despite having seldom lost at all this season, Sinner remained supremely calm and classy in his post-match interview.
He claimed: ‘It’s tough to accept. It’s tough, it’s a tough one to swallow because, you know, I was playing, at some points, great tennis. Playing well, tactically everything went in the right direction and on this, everyone can make mistakes, unfortunately. Or fortunately.
‘Also I can make mistakes and it went like this.’
Stefanos Tsitsipas hands second loss of 2024 to Jannik Sinner
Well, in dramatic fashion, Tsitsipas has administered just Sinner’s second loss of the year, with the first being when Carlos Alcaraz dumped him out of Indian Wells in the semi-finals of that competition.
To halt someone in such blistering form marks one of the outstanding wins of the Greek tennis player’s career thus far, and hands him the perfect opportunity to win his third Masters 1000 title.
However, he will have to bypass an equally incensed Casper Ruud, who will actually be out to claim his first piece of silverware at such a level, having just beaten Novak Djokovic for the first time in his career.
These are two in-form stars who have made their own respective history this week, and we are guaranteed a new winner after Andrey Rublev was dumped out early on.
It should mark an enthralling encounter between a couple of clay-court specialists, and the hope is that there is no outstanding controversy which could overshadow a historic day for these two men.
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