(Tennis news) The Frenchman was defeated 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 by the 21-year-old after two hours and 22 minutes of thrilling baseline rallies. 32 points with nine or more shots were scored by Monfils and Sinner, who delighted the fans. The Italian fired 20 winners to reach his eighth Masters 1000 semifinal.
“It was very tough,” Sinner said in his on-court interview. “In the second set, I made a couple unforced errors but he raised his level. In the third set, I just tried to stick to my game plan, trying to play a little more free, which I’ve done so I’m very happy about the performance.”
At 12:13 a.m., the Italian emerged victorious after giving up an early break advantage in the second set. She overcame Monfils’ 19 aces and won 61% of the points off the 36-year-old’s second serve. The 12th seed Tommy Paul, who defeated World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz to open the evening session, will next face Sinner.
Sinner has moved up to fourth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race to Turin after to a strong performance in Toronto. Having taken the place of fellow countryman Matteo Berrettini as an alternate mid-tournament in 2021, he is attempting to qualify directly into the Nitto ATP Finals field for the first time.
Sinner is this week going for his eighth tour-level victory after reaching the Masters 1000 finals twice. After overcoming fellow countryman Matteo Berrettini in his opening match, Sinner went to the round of eight. On Thursday, Andy Murray gave Sinner a walkover because of an abdominal issue.
Monfils was competing in his first tour-level quarterfinal since the Australian Open last year, and the World No. 8 improved to 4-1 in their head-to-head Lexus ATP series.
Despite participating in just his seventh tour-level tournament of the year owing to injuries, Monfils defeated Christopher Eubanks, the fourth seed, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Aleksandar Vukic this week.
In Toronto, where Paul, Sinner, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, and Alex de Minaur are the final four players, a first-time ATP Masters 1000 champion is guaranteed.
Also read: Tommy Paul defeats Carlos Alcaraz
