Jannik Sinner has backed tennis rival Alex de Minaur to break into the top five in the world after beating the Australian in the semi-final of the ATP Finals. Sinner booked his place in the final with a 7-5, 6-2 win.

It maintains the Italian’s 100% win record over De Minaur, but he was put under pressure by the Australian in the first set. De Minaur booked his place in the knock-out stages thanks to a win against Taylor Fritz in the final group game. It saw him make it to the semi-final despite losing his first two games of the round robin.

The mentality showed in that win is one of the reasons why Sinner believes that he can break into the top five. He has also noted the improvement in certain other aspects.

“As I’ve played a lot lately against him, I feel like he has improved week after week, to be honest,” Sinner said after the game. “Also today the backhand was much stronger than maybe in Vienna.

“He is getting a better and more consistent player, high levels. He can now play this high level not only for half a set, but he goes basically all out.

“At the end of the day top 5, I think he can make it because physically he’s very, very strong. Great mentality. We saw it also here in this tournament: from a very tough loss he comes back and he wins against Taylor. It’s just a very mental game. Mentally he is very, very strong.

“You need to be also consistent on every surface throughout the whole season. I wish him best of luck.”

Following the loss against Sinner, De Minaur outlined what he thought was the difference. “Look, I played him many, many times,” he said.

“Even though a lot of people may not think so, I know how to beat him. It’s just not that easy to do? You’ve got to hit the ball very hard, very flat, very deep and very close to the lines.

“It is something that I try to do, but it’s obviously not the easiest thing to do. I do think for me to have genuine chances, I need to serve well throughout the whole match. My serve dropped a little bit and could have been better.”