Jannik Sinner has been dominant at the 2024 Nitto ATP Finals, and there is every reason to believe that he will take the title at the event. Sure, he still has to earn wins in the semifinals and final to get the trophy, but he has played flawless tennis through most of his three matches. He and Alexander Zverev are the only two undefeated players left.

Against Daniil Medvedev in each player’s final round-robin event of the ATP Finals, Sinner also delivered Taylor Fritz a gift. Fritz needed Sinner to win at least a set against Daniil Medvedev for the American to have a place in the semifinals. Sinner ended any drama early against Medvedev.

Sinner won the first set of his match against the Russian which meant Fritz was through to the semifinals. The American will finish second in the group with Sinner, while Medvedev will finish third. Maybe Fritz doesn’t have a real chance of winning the ATP Finals, but he is 2-1 in the tournament so far and deserved a chance to win the trophy. Sinner gave that to him on Thursday.

Sinner could have just shown up against Medvedev and hit the ball around softly, knowing he had a place in the semis himself. He did not need a win against the Russian to push through. Still, Sinner has to be extra motivated to go unbeaten because an undefeated champion at the ATP Finals earns $4,881,500. If Sinner wins the title but had lost to Medvedev, the Italian could have still won $2,237,200.

In other words, Sinner would have lost over $2 million by losing to Medvedev. Meanwhile, Medvedev had nothing to play for other than getting to the end of the Sinner match and starting a vacation until the beginning of 2025. The Russian had no motivation to win the match after losing the first set. At the time of this writing, Sinner was up a break in the second set and seemingly well on his way to another victory.

Taylor Fritz is into the semifinals of the Nitto ATP Finals since Jannik Sinner won a set against Daniil Medvedev. Sinner was likely to enter the semifinals unbeaten. There is still a lot of drama to be had at the year-end event.

Update: Sinner defeated Medvedev so the Italian still has a chance to be an undefeated champion at the ATP Finals.

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