Djokovic and Sinner reach the Shanghai Masters final. Sabalenka focuses on Gauff in Wuhan

SHANGHAI (AP) – Novak Djokovic overcame physical ailments to beat Taylor Fritz 6-4, 7-6 (6) and move closer to his 100th career title and a record fifth at the Shanghai Masters on Saturday.

Also reaching the final, first place Jannik Sinner ensured that he will be the year-end number 1 of the ATP and the first Italian to achieve this feat.

“I’ve won a lot of titles, I’ve had great battles and great performances,” Djokovic, 37, said. “I definitely came here with a vision and desire to reach the final and fight for title number 100. I have this opportunity against the best player in the world, and see what happens.”

Fellow great Roger Federer has 103 titles and Jimmy Connors leads the men with 109 in the Open era.

first ranked Jannik Sinner will be chasing his seventh ATP title of the year after beating Tomas Machac 6-4, 7-5.

Djokovic improved to 10-0 in career matches against Fritz, who made it 5-3 in the second set tiebreaker and a set point at 6-5.

Djokovic was clearly struggling for mobility and balance with his heavily bandaged left knee.

“I always get those kind of battles out of me, but especially towards the end of the tournament,” Djokovic said. “At this stage of my career, I’m doing everything I can to recover and I had some problems here and there on the court, physically.”

But US Open runner-up Fritz couldn’t capitalize.

He lost a long rally at 6-6 and succumbed on the first match point when Djokovic hammered a volley into the net and the American fired it just short at full stretch.

Djokovic leads 4-3 overall against Sinner, who has won the last two, including the Semi-finals of the Australian Open.

Earlier, Sinner weathered a nearly two-hour ground storm from No. 33 Machac, who beat No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinals.

The Italian has a shot at his third Masters title in 2024 after wins in Miami and Cincinnati, to go with his wins at Australian Open i US Open.

“I just tried to hang in there at every point, to see what would happen,” Sinner said. “Just playing every point as hard as I could, so I’m really happy about that. I’m happy to be back in a final again.

“I’m just looking forward to (the final), to try to find a solution somehow … and hopefully win the game.”

Sinner fired 10 aces and 28 winners, against just seven unforced errors, in a characteristically efficient performance for his 64th win of the year.

Wuhan Open

Second seed Aryna Sabalenka recovered from a slow start to beat an in-form Coco Gauff 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the semi-finals to advance to her third successive Wuhan final and preserve the his perfect record in the tournament.

Sabalenka will face the seventh seed Zheng Qinwen at the end The Paris Olympics champion beat 51st seed Wang Xinyu 6-3, 6-4. Sabalenka will go for her fourth title of the season, which includes the Australian Open and US Open.

The Belarusian’s 16th consecutive win in Wuhan ended Gauff’s recent winning streak at nine, including the China Open title last week. But it looked anything but certain for Sabalenka as she went down 6-1 in the first set.

“In the first set I was just crushing him,” Sabalenka said. “Whatever he was doing, everything was flying in. Everything was very aggressive. I didn’t have many opportunities.”

In a battle between the last two US Open champions, Gauff led with a break early in the second, but Sabalenka responded to level at 4-4 and saved a break point on serve to take a lead of 5-4.

Serving to stay in the set, Gauff was broken when Sabalenka hit a forehand volley to force a deciding set.

The Belarusian carried her momentum into the third, extending her streak to seven games for a 3-0 lead. Gauff fought back to tie it at 4-4, but Sabalenka held strong to stop Gauff’s run.

Sabalenka broke once more after Gauff committed her worst 21st double fault of the season on match point, ending the 2 1/2 hour match.

“I know what’s going on. This is really hard,” said Sabalenka, who has struggled with her serve in the past. “But I know if she can overcome that serve situation, I’m pretty sure she’ll be one of the top players.”

___

AP Tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis