(Tennis news) Daniil Medvedev kept proving why he is a mental giant as he beat Jannik Sinner at the Nitto ATP Finals. Medvedev kept his foot on the gas and managed to break him twice as Sinner was still rusty to give him a 3-0 lead in just 11 minutes of play. It turned out to be a triple break which gave Medvedev a 5-0 lead then comfortably served for a bagel in the first set which showed the scale of Sinner's challenge against the Russian.  

Much to the delight of the home crowd, Sinner won his first game after 33 minutes to enter the scoreboard at the start of the second set, but took the opportunity to build some momentum and took a 3-1 lead. Sinner went on to take the set as he held his serve and in the tiebreaker pulled out a few quick groundstrokes. In the final set, Sinner had two match points in the tie breaker but Medvedev managed to save them both and take the match with a powerful backhand winner. Medvedev defeated Sinner 6-0, 6-7(5-7), 7-6(10-8).

Alexander Zverev booked the third spot in the semifinals as he beat Hubert Hurkacz in their final group stage match. Zverev started with a 5-1 lead in just 17 minutes in the first set when winless Hurkacz was broken two times and Zverev quickly found his first serve. Hurkacz couldn't get control over the match as Zverev secured the opening set in 19 minutes but Hurkacz took advantage of a lucky net rope and pinned him down to keep at least one more game in the first set. Zverev had only missed his first serve twice in the set. 

Hurkacz's serve improved a bit in the second set which allowed him to stabilize for the start of the second set, but couple of misfired forehands allowed Zverev to break him in the 9th game for a 5-4 lead as he won the final service game to win in straight sets. Zverev defeated Hurkacz 6-2, 6-4.

Andrey Rublev will face Casper Ruud in their final group match as the winner will face Novak Djokovic in the semifinal. Rublev has won all of their four meetings against Ruud and will be facing him for the third time this year. Ruud has managed to take a single set in the four meetings, he took the opening set when they met for the first time at Hamburg in 2019.

In doubles, top seeds Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic booked the semifinal spot with a win over Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek. Mektic and Pavic defeated Dodig and Polasek 6-4, 7-6(8-6). The pair of Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballo who had first secured the semifinal spot lost their final group stage match to Horia Tecau and Kevin Krawietz. Granollers and Zeballo defeated Tecau and Krawietz 6-3, 6-7(1-7), 10-6.

Also read: Alexander Zverev and Andrey Rublev eyeing last two semifinal spots at Nitto ATP Finals