The unexpected withdrawal of Matteo Berrettini from the ATP Finals 2021 owing to an abdominal injury has sealed the place for Daniil Medvedev as the first player to reach the semi-finals from team Read group.

Replacing Berrettini is his compatriot and a rising star in men’s tennis, Jannik Sinner. Sinner, who had a break-through season this year on the ATP tour, missed the direct entry for the year-end championships as Hubert Hurkacz ran past him by reaching the semis in Paris Masters.

Sinner faces the Polish star in the second match scheduled on Tuesday at the ATP Finals. On the other hand, Berrettini’s withdrawal has put Zverev in a spot as his semi-final berth is in a fix after the round-robin defeat against Medvedev.

Alexander Zverev appears to be confused over semis qualification rule at ATP Finals

Talking about the same, the German player looked confused about the rules regarding his semis qualification.

“I think you need to have played all three to qualify. Is that the rule? I don’t know. He can? Okay. He can still”.

From his comments, it seems like Zverev got clarity regarding Sinner‘s semis chances from the journalists present at the interaction. If Jannik can win both his matches against Hurkacz and Medvedev, he will make a strong case for himself to qualify for the final four from team Red.

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However, the Italian will still lose out on the semi-finals chance if Zverev beats Hurkacz. If this happens, then Medvedev, Zverev, and Sinner will end up with two victories from the group. Then, the German gets qualified as Sinner would have only participated in two matches.

Medvedev feels that Sinner will fancy his semi-final chances at Turin

Brewing with the confidence of winning back-to-back matches at the ATP Finals, Medvedev was asked to share on his thoughts over the arrival of Jannik Sinner in the marquee event. The Russian felt that the Italian could play fearless tennis and could go all the way.

“Jannik Sinner is in great shape and I think he can fully play his chances of qualification. He played an incredible season and is still very young, so he can play without too much pressure and do very well”.

Right now, it’s early to look at the qualifying scenarios for semis as there are still a handful of matches to be played at the year-end championships in Turin.

Even though the withdrawal of Berrettini would have disappointed local fans, they would still be elated to see Jannik Sinner play a huge event at a young stage in his career and will be cheer for him all along.

Also read: “I Am Destroyed”: Matteo Berrettini Gutted After Announcing Unfortunate News