Jannik Sinner remains unstoppable.
The 22-year-old Italian, third in the world ranking and the best of all so far in 2024, defeated the Czech
Jiri Lehecka
(32nd) by a double 6-3 in one hour and 24 minutes of play and continues with an overwhelming performance .
In this way, he qualified for the semifinals of the
Masters 1000 in Indian Wells
and remains undefeated this year with
sixteen wins in a row,
after lifting his first Grand Slam title in Australia and winning the ATP 500 in Rotterdam.
Only tennis legends such as
Novak Djokovic
with 41 victories in 2011,
Rafael Nadal
(20 in 2022),
Roger Federer
(17 in 2018) and
Pete Sampras
(17 in 1997) surpass such a record at the beginning of a season, but Sinner is the youngest to achieve it.
Furthermore, in only three of those 16 matches did he lose sets: against Djokovic and Medvedev in the semis and final in Melbourne and against Monfils in the round of 16 in Rotterdam.
16-0 this season đź’«
With a 6-3 6-3 victory over Lehecka, @janniksin ties Roger Federer at 7th in all-time best starts on the ATP tour since 1990!
Semifinals in #TennisParadise âś… pic.twitter.com/rrYxIQMvHr
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) March 14, 2024
"It was a complicated match because this morning there was a lot of wind, but then the situation was different.
Jiri has enormous potential and I am very happy with my performance.
This is one of the best tournaments on the circuit, so I am very happy to be able to play the semifinals again,” said the
race
leader after the match.
In the next instance, last year's semifinal duel will be reissued, when Sinner, then 12th in the world, lost to
Carlos Alcaraz
.
The two great young talents that the ATP circuit has will meet again this Friday, after the Spaniard defeated the German Alexander Zverev with a resounding 6-3, 6-1.
At the top of the draw there is a semi-final qualifier and it is the local
Tommy Paul,
who won 6-2, 1-6 and 6-3 against the Norwegian Casper Ruud, and is waiting for
Daniil Medvedev or Holger Rune,
those in charge of close the day in the California desert.