With limited spots available in the ATP Finals semis, there’s a huge sense of urgency among the participants competing in this year-ending tournament.
Daniil Medvedev just became the first man to book a place in this year’s semi-finals after winning his first two matches in the Red Group, so the updated ATP Finals 2023 odds like his chances to win it all because of his recent run of success.
Meanwhile, in the Green Group, Jannik Sinner is also off to a 2-0 start. However, he’s not completely out of the woods just yet.
In case you missed it, worry not, as SBOTOP is here to recap the latest ATP Finals 2023 highlights.
Medvedev already qualified in the semi-finals
After suffering a meltdown in the Round of 32 of the Paris Masters, Medvedev is now peaking at the right time with back-to-back victories in Turin.
Medvedev has yet to lose a single set in the ATP Finals, defeating Andrey Rublev 6-4, 6-2 on Tuesday before outlasting Alexander Zverev 7-6(7), 6-4 on Wednesday.
Last night’s win against Zverev was Medvedev’s fifth win in six head-to-head matchups between the pair this season, and he has improved to 11-7 overall. In the ATP Finals itself, Medvedev is 3-2 against Zverev.
Medvedev is the 2020 ATP Finals champion, while Zverev won it in 2018 and 2021. Their match was decided on fine margins, with the Russian saving two set points in a nervy opening-set tiebreak and fighting off a break point late in the second set.
The key moment of last night’s match was when Medvedev fought off the first break point of the second set to hold for 5-4, which gave him enough momentum to close out the match.
Zverev was actually the aggressor for most of the match, with 26 winners, and he had an 18-for-31 success rate on net approaches. However, Medvedev was particularly clutch on break points, and he was better on first serve, winning 40 of 51 points when landing his first delivery.
Medvedev is set to take on Carlos Alcaraz next, who defeated Andrey Rublev 7-5, 6-2 yesterday, while Zverev’s next opponent is Andrey Rublev, who is now at the bottom of the Red Group with a 0-2 record.
Tsitsipas ends his year on a whimper
Stefanos Tsitsipas will leave Turin empty-handed and disappointed, as he had to withdraw from the ATP Finals once again due to a back injury, and Hubert Hurkacz will replace him in the Green Group.
“My apologies to all the fans and the crowd that came to support me. I hate retiring from matches,” lamented Tsitsipas. “It kills me not to be able to finish this tournament, the one I’ve prepped for so long.”
Prior to the ATP Finals, Tsitsipas encountered fitness issues during his pre-tournament training, but he was able to finish his opening match against Jannik Sinner, which he lost 6-4, 6-4.
But against Rune, Tsitsipas looked in considerable pain, so he decided not to push through with the match. He admitted later on that his back flared up during warm-ups and that he couldn’t handle it anymore after the first three games.
It’s safe to say that Tsitsipas’ 2023 up-and-down campaign has now come to a close. This year, he was able to win the Los Cabos Open, and he managed final runner-up finishes against Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz in the Australian and Barcelona Open, respectively.
Three-way battle in the Green Group
Tsitsipas’ withdrawal has made things a little complicated in the Green Group, as Jannik Sinner, Holger Rune, and Novak Djokovic are all still in contention to advance to the semi-finals ahead of their final group stage matches.
As mentioned earlier, Jannik Sinner leads the group with a 2-0 record after beating the likes of Stefanos Tsitsipas and Novak Djokovic. Meanwhile, Djokovic’s three-set victory over Rune and Rune’s win against Tsitsipas after the Greek retired put them level at 1-1.
Sinner and Rune will square off, while Djokovic will face Hurkacz, who is merely a fill-in for Tsitsipas, which means that the Polish international won’t be able to advance to the final four himself regardless of whether he beats the world no. 1 or not on Thursday.
There’s a lot of scenarios in play for the second semis berth behind Sinner, although all signs point that Djokovic is likely to advance.
One of the few ways that Djokovic is going to be eliminated is if he loses to Hurkacz and Rune defeats Sinner. That scenario would see Rune winning the group and Sinner settling for second place.
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