Sinner claims 200th win, reaches Rotterdam SF

Jannik Sinner’s unbeaten start to the 2024 season continued Friday at the ABN AMRO Open. The top seed at the indoor 500 advanced to the semi-finals after Milos Raonic was forced to retire from the pair’s quarter-final clash due to a right hip injury.

Sinner led 7-6(4), 1-1 when the former World No. 3 Raonic called a halt to proceedings at Rotterdam Ahoy, where the players were contesting their maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head clash. Earlier, the Australian Open champion Sinner had saved two set points at 4-5, 15/40 before clinching the opening set in a tie-break.

Raonic is forced to retire due to injury 🙁

Sinner advances to the semi-finals 7-6, 1-1 ret.@abnamroopen | #abnamroopen pic.twitter.com/nxizLJCCne

— ATP Tour (@atptour) February 16, 2024

“He is for sure one of the toughest opponents to play against,” said Sinner of Raonic in his post-match interview. “This is a very unusual challenge you have on court. He serves incredibly well. I was up a break first set and I missed a couple of things. From the past two rounds I was struggling a little bit to find myself on the court. Also today, I felt like he was playing better than me the first set.

“I just tried to stay somehow mentally, but at the end of the day this is not how you want to win this match. He had so many injuries throughout his career and hopefully he will have a speedy recovery.”

Now 10-0 for the season after the 200th tour-level win of his career, the 22-year-old Sinner will next take on home hope Tallon Griekspoor on Saturday night. It will be a repeat of the duo's 2023 semi-final clash, in which Sinner prevailed in straight sets before falling short in the championship match against Daniil Medvedev.

“It was really tough," recalled Sinner when asked about his win against Griekspoor from a year ago. "I remember the last set was a tie-break, so these are the kinds of matches where you also have to enjoy the atmosphere. I’m sure it’s going to be full, so that’s also one of the reasons why I love to play here. The fans are incredible. Tomorrow is a new day, anything can happen, so I’m looking forward to it.”

Should Sinner move past Griekspoor again for his 13th consecutive win and this time go on to lift the trophy in Rotterdam, the Australian Open champion will on Monday rise above Medvedev to a career-high No. 3 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. To do that, he may well feel he needs to raise his level at a venue where he now holds an 8-2 record.

“I think the situation here is, the courts are quite heavy, but it changes a lot with new balls and used balls," said Sinner on his quest to find his best game this week in the Netherlands. "So you have to change also, but this is the fun of the sport. Every week or every tournament you play in a different situation and I’m happy to be in the semi-final trying to play some good tennis tomorrow.”

Sinner is the seventh Italian male to notch 200 tour-level wins in the Open Era, and the first man born after 2000 to hit that milestone. The World No. 4, an 11-time tour-level titlist, holds an overall record of 200-74.