Sinner now leads ATP Tour wins for 2024 season

Jannik Sinner now leads the ATP Tour wins for the 2024 season, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index.

The Italian claimed his 58th victory of the season (58-5), breaking a tie with Alexander Zverev for the ATP Tour-lead, by easing into the China Open semi-finals on Monday evening. The No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings eliminated big-hitting Czech Jiri Lehecka 6-2, 7-6(6).

“We always try to improve day by day and I feel like the result is coming in what level you’re playing throughout the season, how consistent you are as a player,” Sinner said in his on-court interview. “You also have to be ready mentally to do that. So we just try to stay in the present moment. We know what we have done this season, which is great for me. But every match we see we can improve, which is very good.”

14-match winning streak ?@janniksin is into his 10th semi-final in 2024 after saving set points to down Lehecka 6-2 7-6(6)!@ChinaOpen | #ChinaOpen pic.twitter.com/3fKt7u3I7I

The 23-year-old faced two set points at 4/6 in the second-set tie-break, but rallied to close out his victory in one hour and 45 minutes. He will next take on fourth seed Andrey Rublev or home favourite Buyunchaokete.

Sinner has now won 14 consecutive matches dating back to the start of the Cincinnati Open. He has claimed 50 straight wins against players outside of the world’s Top 20.

For most of the match against Lehecka, the top seed was in full control. He did not face a break point until 5-5 in the second set, when the Czech raised his level to earn two chances.

But whereas Sinner needed three sets in his first two matches in Beijing, this year’s Australian Open and US Open champion was able to get through without facing a decider. He now leads Lehecka 2-0 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

“I felt like I had some chances in the second set a little bit before, I couldn’t use them. But then it gets a bit tricky, I was serving [at] 5-all, he had a couple of break points, but then I served well fortunately,” Sinner said. “And [in a] tie-break everything can happen. I was down and then I returned very well on 4/6, served well on 5/6. So happy how I handled a tough situation. Feel like I still can improve a couple of things here so hopefully tomorrow is going to be that day when I feel better on the court.

“But Jiri, we played in Indian Wells again, so we know each other a little bit more now. He’s a very tough player to play against so I’m very happy to be in the next round.”

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