De Minaur, the first Australian to make the season-ending men's championship for 20 years since Lleyton Hewitt, could once again not cope with the power and class of the Australian and US Open champion, as he succumbed 6-3 6-4 on his Finals debut at the Inalpi Arena on Sunday night (Monday AEDT).
Roared on by fervent home support, Sinner continued his stranglehold over the Sydneysider, beating him for the eighth time out of eight, and once again never looking remotely as if he would drop a set.
It's laughable, it really is! 😅— ATP Tour (@atptour) 🎩 @janniksin #NittoATPFinals pic.twitter.com/GtL7iUVE7qNovember 10, 2024
Indeed, the Australian has only ever taken one stanza off Sinner, way back four years ago, and apart from a brief spell early when de Minaur earned a break to go 2-1 up and the Italian looked a mite rusty after a four-week break, there was a brutal air of inevitability about the outcome.
Just as at this time last year when Sinner swept the Australian aside in the Davis Cup final, once he'd found a bit of rhythm and cranked up that familiar easy power, he broke straight back and reeled off four games in a row to control proceedings and take his 14th straight set off de Minaur.
The world No.8 is nothing if not a fighter and battled gamely to stay in the contest at the start of the second, cheered on at courtside by compatriots Jordan Thompson and Max Purcell, who had earlier won their first match at the Finals doubles event.
Yet Sinner made his move in the fifth game, earning three break points and, after a medical emergency in the packed arena delayed proceedings for five minutes, he returned to earn the decisive breakthrough.
Sinner celebrates after yet another straight-sets win over the Australian. (AP PHOTO)
Though seemingly a little troubled by a niggle in his side late in the match, Sinner still swept to victory, finishing the job with an ace down the T after one hour and 24 minutes, having crashed 19 winners compared to de Minaur's seven.
The defeat means de Minaur may have to beat both American Taylor Fritz and Russian Daniil Medvedev if he's to finish in the top-two in the 'Ilie Nastase Group' and qualify for the semi-finals.
Fritz had earlier on Sunday put himself in a good position by defeating a raging Medvedev 6-4 6-3 on one of those days when the Russian just couldn't control his temper.
Daniil Medvedev tosses away a racquet after smashing it in the loss to Taylor Fritz. (AP PHOTO)
Quite out of sorts, Medvedev ended up smashing a racquet and getting docked a point.
The first set had meandered along uneventfully until the final game when Medvedev served up three double faults in a row, and went ballistic, slamming his racquet twice, mangling it and tossing it away behind him. Cue, a code violation for the Russian.
Fritz didn't let the histrionics bother him. "I was just laughing. I think he's really funny, to be honest," Fritz said.
"Even when he's not playing me, he always cracks me up."
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