This is a confrontation between two players who have won their opening matches in the Blue Group and Djokovic can quickly book a ticket to the semi-finals if he wins. The 36-year-old Serbian is rated higher than Sinner as he has been unbeaten since the Wimbledon final and is also unbeaten against the host player in three matches against them.
Djokovic is on a 19-match unbeaten streak
However, Djokovic was under great pressure from the cheers of the audience at Pala Aplitour to support Sinner. The match was tense from the start, but the drama was created in the 11th game when Nole (Djokovic's nickname) served. Leading Sinner 40/0, however, mistakes and enthusiastic cheers from the audience caused Nole to lose 5/6. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Sinner won the game 7/5.
Sinner had a great match against the world number 1 player.
The second set was very even as neither could beat the other's serve and a tie-break was played. With his experience and skill, Djokovic won with a 7/5 tie-break to bring the match back to the starting line. In the deciding set, Sinner once again took the lead 4/2, but Nole was excellent in equalizing and the match once again had a nerve-wracking tie-break.
Djokovic's actions in front of the cheering audience at Pala Aplitour stadium
However, in this deciding set, the referee had to ask the fans to be quiet many times when they were enthusiastically cheering for Sinner and also booing Djokovic many times. This caused Nole to make consecutive mistakes and let the 22-year-old player from the host country lead 5/0. With the enthusiastic cheering of the audience on the field, Sinner won with a score of 7/2 and became the first person to defeat Djokovic in 4 months.
Sinner with the joy of defeating Djokovic for the first time
In the remaining match of the Blue Group, former champion Tsitsipas (Greece) suffered a back injury early in the match against Holger Rune (Denmark) and had to retire. With this result, Djokovic's group will need to go to the final round to know the 2 owners who will win tickets to the semi-finals.
Tsitsipas withdraws due to back injury
In the final round, the 36-year-old Serbian will meet Tsitsipas' replacement, Hubert Hurkacz ( Hungary ), and Sinner will meet Rune. The advantage of the Blue Group currently belongs to Sinner and Djokovic as both can decide by winning in the final round. Meanwhile, the Danish player needs to beat Sinner with a high score to hope to qualify for the next round.
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