Sinner sees the future in tight defeat of Jodar

Jannik Sinner needed a sweep of the final 11 points of the match to hold over rising NextGen rival Rafa Jodar, with the Italian world No. 1 completing his career match set of Masters 1000 semi-finals with a 6-2, 7-6 (0) Wednesday win in Madrid.

The 24-year-old top seed faced a battle as he took in a 19-year-old tipped as the Next Big Thing on the ATP.

Sinner, who wore that label not so many seasons ago, extended his winning run at the Masters level to 26 straight matches as he and Jodar played for the first time. 

He has won his last 21 this season, with his latest under the closed roof in the Spanish capital lasting for just under two hours..

The top seed who is bidding to become the first player to ever win five straight Masters titles, saved seven break points while break the Jodar serve on seven occasions

 The Spanish youngster has moved from 168th in the rankings to his current 34th, with a first career Tour title this month in Marrakech.

“He pushed me to the limit, he’s an incredible player,”the winner said. “I tried to be ready for the match as much as I could fr this first meeting.

“Now we know what to expect from each other.”

Sinner added: “I’m incredibly happy to win this match. In the second set I got a bit lucky with a little bit of experience.”

The Italian is keeping his mind off of the history he is writing on his win streak. “Reaching the semi-finals of any tournament is tough. I’m just trying to improve on every surface and condition.”