ATP Finals: Sinner begins campaign with an emphatic win against de Minaur in Torin

Jannik Sinner quickly shook off some early rust to power to an impressive opening victory on Sunday night at the Nitto ATP Finals.

The home favourite prevailed 6-3, 6-4 against Alex de Minaur to kick-start his 2024 campaign at the prestigious season finale. Competing in his first match since he lifted the Rolex Shanghai Masters trophy on 13 October, Sinner responded superbly to dropping serve in the third game of the match against De Minaur. He wrapped victory in 85 minutes at Inalpi Arena to move to 1-0 in Ilie Nastase Group.

“Considering [how long since I last played], I’m very happy,” said Sinner. “I started off with some unforced errors. He was playing great in the beginning of the match, so I just tried to stay there mentally, knowing that hopefully at some point my tennis would arrive. It arrived quite early, and I started to return very well.

“My serve, for sure I have to improve if I want to [win] the next match. Against Taylor [Fritz] for example, today he played really well. Let’s see, but today I’m very pleased about the win and hopefully this can give me confidence for the next one.”

A finalist at the Nitto ATP Finals a year ago, Sinner this year returned to Turin as the first Italian No. 1 in PIF ATP Rankings history.