Jannik Sinner reached the final of the ATP Finals on Saturday, beating Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 6-7 (4/7), 6-1 in front of passionate home support in Turin.
World number four Sinner is the first Italian to make the final of the season-ending tournament. He will face either Novak Djokovic or Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday.
The 22-year-old now has the chance to win the biggest title of his career at the end of his best season to date, in which he has won four tour-level titles.
Two of those wins, in Vienna and Beijing were earned by defeating Medvedev in the final and he has now won his third straight match against the Russian, ranked third in the world.
Sinner took early control in game four of the first set when he broke Medvedev's serve and then fought back from 0-30 down in the next game to take a 4-1 lead.
Huge applause rang around the arena when he served out the set, but Medvedev did not wilt in front of the vociferous support given to the home favourite.
The pair went at it toe-to-toe in the second set, holding their respective serves and slugging it out in long baseline rallies.
And Medvedev eventually struck back in the tie-break, his powerful service game too much for Sinner who started to show signs of being ground down, even if it was the Russian who called for treatment immediately after drawing level.
But an inexplicably bad second game in the third set from Medvedev, ending with a double fault, handed a break of serve to Sinner.
Medvedev became increasingly irritated with his own errors and the partisan crowd, following up one point by gesturing towards a spectator after smashing his racket into the floor.
The game was up for Medvedev once he was broken again in game six.
Sinner needed nearly the best part of 10 minutes and three break points to get the double break and close in on victory.
Saturday's other semi-final promises to be a blockbuster clash as Djokovic continues his bid for a record-breaking seventh finals title.
The world number one has a burgeoning rivalry with Alcaraz as the Spaniard is already a two-time Grand Slam champion at the age of 20 and beat him in an epic five-set Wimbledon final.
td/pb
