Top-ranked Jannik Sinner will chase his seventh ATP title of the year in the Shanghai Masters final after beating Tomas Machac 6-4, 7-5 on Saturday.
Victory ensured Sinner will be the ATP year-end No. 1, the first Italian player to achieve that feat.
His 64th match win of the year set up a final against Novak Djokovic, who overcame physical discomfort to beat seventh-ranked Taylor Fritz 6-4, 7-6 (6) and move closer to a 100th career title and a record-extending fifth at Shanghai.
“I came here this year definitely with the vision or desire to get to the final and fight for 100 titles,” Djokovic said. “I’ve got that chance against the best player in the world, and let’s see what happens.”
Roger Federer has 103 titles, and Jimmy Connors leads men with 109 in the Open era.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion improved to 10-0 in his career against Fritz, who blew a 5-3 lead in the second-set tiebreaker and a set point at 6-5 up.
Djokovic was clearly struggling for mobility and balance with his left knee heavily strapped, but US Open runner-up Fritz could not take advantage.
Fritz lost a long rally at 6-6 and succumbed on the first match point when Djokovic stabbed a volley at the net and the American flicked it just long at full stretch.
“It always takes it out of me, these kinds of battles, but particularly towards the end of the tournament,” Djokovic said. “At this stage of my career, I’m doing my best to recover, and I had some issues here and there on the court, physically.”
Djokovic leads 4-3 overall against Sinner, who has won the past two — including in the Australian Open semifinals.
Sinner weathered a nearly two-hour baseline storm from No. 33-ranked Machac, who beat No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinals.
The Italian has a shot at his third Masters title in 2024 following victories in Miami and Cincinnati to go with his wins at the Australian Open and US Open.
“I just tried to stay there every point, to see what was going to happen,” Sinner said. “Just playing every point with the maximum intensity I could, so I’m very happy about that. I’m happy to be back in a final again.”
Sinner fired 10 aces and 28 winners, against seven unforced errors, in a characteristically efficient performance.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
