Jannik Sinner beats Tallon Griekspoor in Rotterdam | ATP Tour

Rotterdam

Sinner sinks Griekspoor, sets De Minaur title match in Rotterdam

Italian notches 14th straight win, now eyes World No. 3 mark

February 17, 2024

Jannik Sinner in action against Tallon Griekspoor on Saturday night at the ABN AMRO Open in Rotterdam.
By ATP Staff

Jannik Sinner hit his stride and barely looked back on Saturday night at the ABN AMRO Open.

The top seed downed home hope Tallon Griekspoor 6-2, 6-4 to reach his second straight final at the ATP 500 in Rotterdam. Sinner took control early of his clash with Griekspoor, a rematch of the pair’s last-four meeting at the same venue a year ago, and ultimately wrapped an 82-minute victory with some of his best tennis of the week so far under the roof at Rotterdam Ahoy.

“Today, in a practice session beforehand, we tried to keep the intensity quite high, trying to feel the court and get into the rhythm a little bit,” said Sinner in his post-match interview. “I knew that today I had to raise the level, which I have done, and obviously I’m glad that I can play once more here in the final in Rotterdam.”

Sinner will take a 14-match winning steak into his 16th tour-level final, where his opponent will be fifth seed Alex de Minaur. The 22-year-old, who lifted his maiden Grand Slam trophy at the Australian Open last month, has not lost since his defeat to Novak Djokovic in the championship match at the 2023 Nitto ATP Finals.

He is EVERYWHERE ????@janniksin didn’t come to play ????@abnamroopen | #abnamroopen pic.twitter.com/3V3OsSFY1W

— ATP Tour (@atptour) February 17, 2024

Sinner had expressed a desire to raise his level after his quarter-final against Milos Raonic and the Italian wasted little time fulfilling that objective against Griekspoor. He broke serve in the opening game of the match and was soon a double break up at 5-1 as he struck the ball cleanly off both wings, offering a seemingly nervous Griekspoor little chance to find his feet in front of his home fans.

A year ago in Rotterdam, Griekspoor took 11 games off Sinner in a steely semi-final showing despite ultimately falling to a straight-sets defeat. This time around, the Dutch World No. 29 began to give a reminder of his ability in the second set, when he competed well and began to take the match to his opponent by firing plenty of big forehands to dictate rallies.

Griekspoor carved out two break points in both the fourth and sixth games of the second set, but some typically precise Sinner serving ensured he could not convert any of them. His comeback efforts were then badly undermined by a poor service game at 4-4 that handed a break to his opponent.

Sinner made no mistake in serving out from there to close a victory in which he saved all six break points he faced and won 79 per cent (23/29) of points behind first serves, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

Most tour-level wins in 2024 season

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