At the Shanghai Masters on Saturday, Novak Djokovic battled physical discomfort to defeat Taylor Fritz 6-4, 7-6 (6) and get one step closer to winning his 100th career championship and a record-tying fifth.
Top-ranked Jannik Sinner made sure he would be the ATP year-end No. 1 and the first Italian to do it by making it to the final.
In the Open era, Jimmy Connors leads men with 109 titles, while fellow legend Roger Federer has 103. After defeating Tomas Machac 6-4, 7-5, top-ranked Jannik Sinner will want to win his sixth ATP championship of the year.
Fritz lost a set point at 6-5 up and a 5-3 lead in the second-set tiebreaker, but Djokovic moved to 10-0 in career meetings versus them.
With his left knee fully wrapped, Djokovic was obviously having trouble moving and maintaining his balance.
But Fritz, the runner-up in the U.S. Open, was unable to capitalize.
After a protracted rally, he was defeated at 6-6 when Djokovic slashed a volley at the net and the American flicked it narrowly long at full stretch.
Djokovic leads 4-3 overall, although Sinner has won their last two meetings, including one in the Australian Open quarter-finals.
Sinner had earlier withstood an almost 2-hour baseline storm from Machac, ranked 33, who had defeated Carlos Alcaraz, ranked No. 2, in the quarter-finals.
In 2024, the Italian, who has already won the Miami Open, Cincinnati Open, Australian Open, and U.S. Open, will have an opportunity to win his third Masters crown.
Sinner won his 64th match of the year with a typically effective display that included 10 aces, 28 wins, and just seven intentional errors.