Jannik Sinner, Mackenzie McDonald reach Citi Open final - The Washington Post

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Throughout the highs and lows of a tennis career he refuses to give up on, Mackenzie McDonald has faithfully written down his goals.

Putting them on paper and talking them over with his coach have a way of bringing him back to center, whether after reaching a career-high No. 57 world ranking or suffering through a slow recovery from hamstring surgery that left him close to helpless, unable to drive or leave his Florida apartment for weeks last year.

So Saturday night at the Citi Open, when McDonald came one step closer to achieving one of his main goals for 2021 — to win his first ATP tournament — by toppling Kei Nishikori to reach Sunday’s final, McDonald let out a roar so loud and so uncharacteristic that it shocked even him.

“Honestly, I still can’t believe it was over,” said McDonald, 26, after being pushed to his limit physically and mentally in defeating Nishikori, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5. “I just let it all out. I slapped those forehands and, yeah, just let it all out and screamed loud.”

McDonald’s reward is a first career meeting with hard-hitting Italian Jannik Sinner, the No. 5 seed and a player he has long admired. Sinner, a poised soul in a tall, lanky, teenage body, blasted his way into Sunday’s 5 p.m. final with a 7-6 (7-2), 6-1 victory that ended the surprising run of American wild card Jenson Brooksby, who knocked off three seeded players to reach the final four despite being ranked 130th.

In his on-court interview afterward, Sinner, 19, complimented his opponent, calling Brooksby a great “young player” at the top moment of his career. Laughter ensued from the Stadium Court crowd when interviewer Patrick McEnroe reminded Sinner that Brooksby, 20, was older than he is.

Sinner grabbed 90 minutes of rest, a bite to eat and a change of clothes, then strode onto an adjacent court to contest a doubles semifinal with American Sebastian Korda, which they lost. Whether the double duty takes a toll Sunday remains to be seen.

The one certainty is that a new name will be added to the blue awning over the stadium court concourse that lists each tournament champion since Washington’s late-summer tennis classic was first held in 1969. Sinner and McDonald are first-time Citi Open finalists, and one will join an illustrious list that includes Arthur Ashe, Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick and Juan Martin del Potro.

With 20-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal competing for the first time, it was reasonable to assume the 35-year-old Spaniard would become the next honoree. But the tournament’s top seed and its main draw was ousted in his second match as he works his way back from a foot injury that sidelined him for two months. And one seed tumbled after another.

The upshot was an unexpected quartet of semifinalists: Sinner; 67th-ranked Nishikori; 107th-ranked McDonald; and Brooksby, who was granted a last-minute wild card after higher-ranked players withdrew.

Just 10 months apart in age, Sinner and Brooksby have similar builds and dissimilar games. But they were deadlocked for most of the first set, with not even a break point through the first nine games.

With Sinner serving at 5-6, Brooksby had three set points and urged the crowd to show its support. Then he erred on all three, and Sinner forced the tiebreaker.

Though younger, Sinner is the far more experienced tour player. Entering the Citi Open, he had played 89 ATP matches in his young career to Brooksby’s nine.

The seasoning showed in the tiebreaker, with Sinner barely putting a foot wrong and Brooksby’s errors mounting.

“You know, tiebreak is very fast,” Sinner said. “[I was] trying to keep it simple, trying to make the right moves. ... I think today that was the key.”

His confidence buoyed by the tiebreaker, Sinner let the ball fly to open the second set and didn’t look back.

The McDonald-Nishikori semifinal was contested under unseasonably cool skies for August in Washington. Low, gray clouds had threatened rain all afternoon, but it stayed dry long enough for the tournament to keep the schedule on track — and cap the evening with a women’s exhibition between Americans Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula. Pegula won, 4-6, 7-5, 10-8, to claim the $25,000 winner’s check.

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