Turin, Nov 13 (IANS) Defending champion Jannik Sinner sealed his place in the last four of the ATP Finals after beating Alexander Zverev for the third time in 17 days.

The 24-year-old Italian delivered a high-quality performance en route to a 6-4, 6-3 victory. Sinner holds a 2-0 record in the Bjorn Borg group and is yet to play Ben Shelton before competing in the semi-finals.

Sinner earned his fifth consecutive win against the German and improved to 6-4 in their ATP Head-to-Head rivalry. Zverev’s last win against Sinner came at the 2023 US Open.

“I felt like I was serving very well in important moments. I tried to play the best tennis possible when it mattered, which fortunately went my way,” said Sinner.

We both changed a little bit tactically, so I felt like we both were trying to hit quite fast, quite flat. But I’m very happy with how I returned his serve. It’s very difficult. One of the best serves in the game. The group I’m in, with Sascha and Ben, it’s very difficult to return their serves,” he added.

Sinner beat Zverev in this year’s Australian Open final and more recently in a three-set Vienna championship match, followed by a 6-0, 6-1 win in the semi-finals of the ATP Masters 1000 event in Paris, ATP reports.

Still alive in the chase for ATP Year-End No. 1, Sinner must win the title this week as an undefeated champion and hope that Alcaraz does not record another victory.

Alcaraz, already safely into the semi-finals, faces Sinner’s countryman Lorenzo Musetti on Thursday.

Sinner is on a 28-match winning streak on indoor hard courts since falling to Novak Djokovic in the 2023 Nitto ATP Finals championship match. Since then, Sinner has not dropped a set in Turin. Last year he became the first man to win the event without losing a set since 1986 (Ivan Lendl), as per ATP stats.