Sinner notches 200th career win, as Raonic retires in Rotterdam

Italian Jannik Sinner clicked another big milestone on Friday in Rotterdam, even if it wasn’t in the manner he would have preferred. The top seed moved into the semi-finals of the Rotterdam Open when Canadian Milos Raonic retired at the Rotterdam Ahoy on Friday evening, which allowed him to join the ATP’s 200 win club.

He is the seventh Italian man to reach that milestone, and the first player born after 2000 to do so.

Sinner, ranked No 4, led 7-6 (4), 1-1 when Raonic, ranked No 309, pulled out on Friday evening at the Rotterdam Ahoy.

Before Raonic departed, he made quite an impact on the young Italian.

“For sure one of the toughest opponents to play against,” Sinner said of facing the former world No.3. “This is a very unusual challenge you have on court. He serves incredibly well.”

Sinner added that he has yet to find his game in Rotterdam, due to the change in conditions.

“From the last two rounds I was struggling a little bit to find myself on the court,” Sinner said, “I felt like he was playing better than me in the first set. I just tried to stay in somehow, mentally, but at the end of the day this is not how I want to win this match – he had so many injuries throughout his career, and hopefully he is going to have a speedy recovery.”

It was an anti-climactic finish for Sinner, one that lasted just 65 minutes, but an important milestone nevertheless. The Italian became the seventh Italian man to reach the 200-win mark in ATP history, and the first ATP player born in the 2000s to achieve the feat.

ATP Players Born after 2000, total wins

• Sinner, 200-74
• Auger-Aliassime 189-127
• Alcaraz 160-44
• Rune 102-66
• Korda 100-65

Italian players with 200 wins or more

• Fabio Fognini 414-375
• Adriano Panatta 395-247
• Andreas Seppi 386 422
• Corrado Barazzutti 320-231
• Renzo Furlan 223-239
• Andrea Gaudenzi 219-231
• Jannik Sinner 200-74

Sinner will play Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor next, in a rematch of last year’s semi-final battle that was won by the Italian in straight sets, 7-5, 7-6(5).

Earlier in the tournament, Jannik Sinner defeated Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp (6-3, 6-3) and French wildcard Gael Monfils (6-3, 3-6, 6-3).

The 33-year-old Canadian won against Dutch wildcard Jesper De Jong (7-6 (5), 6-4) and Kazakh Alexander Bublik, the No 8 seed (6-4, 6-4) in the previous rounds of the Rotterdam tournament.

Rotterdam ATP 500, other last eight results (Rotterdam Ahoy, hard, EUR 2.134.985, most recent results first):

• Tallon Griekspoor beat Emil Ruusuvuori: 7-5, 7-6 (4)
• Alex De Minaur (5) beat Andrey Rublev (2): 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-3
• Grigor Dimitrov (6) beat Alexander Shevchenko: 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-4

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