Jannik Sinner has become the first Italian ever to reach the semifinals of the ATP Finals

Jannik Sinner has become the first Italian player to reach the semifinals of the ATP Finals in the tournament's 54-year history, clinching his historic spot in the final four before even taking the court for his third round-robin match against Holger Rune on Thursday night.

Sinner, who went into Thursday with a 2-0 record in his round-robin group with wins over Stefanos Tsitsipas and Novak Djokovic, just needed Hubert Hurkacz to win a set against Djokovic in their afternoon match—and the Pole came through for him, taking the second set against the world No. 1 and thus sending the Italian into the semifinals.

Djokovic would eventually beat Hurkacz, 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-1.

But Sinner came back out on court at night and won his third and final round-robin match anyway, battling past Rune, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4.

And with that result, Sinner wins the Green Group, with Djokovic finishing in second place and also moving through to the semifinals.

Sinner is the fourth Italian player to qualify for the ATP Finals since the event was first staged in 1970, after Adriano Panatta (1975), Corrado Barazzutti (1978) and Matteo Berrettini (2019 and 2021), but none of his three predecessors were able to make it out of the round-robin stage.

Sinner ripped 33 winners to 26 unforced errors—including 11 aces to zero double faults—en route to his two-hour, 31-minute victory over Rune, and with it the Italian added a few more milestones to his day.

First of all it was his 60th win of the year, making him the first Italian man in the Open Era to record 60 wins in a season. He was already the first to even hit 55, achieving that feat in Vienna a few weeks ago.

Second of all, his victory over the world No. 8 was the 20th Top 10 win of his career—he’s actually won his last seven in a row against the elite.

Up next for Sinner in the semifinals will be an as-of-yet undetermined opponent—Daniil Medvedev has secured his spot in the semifinals in the other round-robin group, but neither first nor second place are set.