Jannik Sinner: Cincinnati’s youngest champion in 16 years | ATP Tour

Cincinnati

Jannik Sinner: Cincinnati’s youngest champion in 16 years

The Italian already has three Masters 1000 titles

August 19, 2024

Jannik Sinner remains unstoppable in ATP Tour finals in 2024. The Italian improved his record in championship matches to 5-0 this season after defeating Frances Tiafoe 7-6(4), 6-2 in the Cincinnati Open final on Monday.

The PIF ATP Rankings No. 1, also a winner this year in Australia, Rotterdam, Miami and Halle, is now the tournament’s youngest champion since 2008 when Andy Murray was 21. In addition, Sinner, who turns 23 on Friday, is the first player with more than one Masters 1000 title in 2024.

And he did it with a clean performance on the final day of the tournament in Ohio. After three-set wins against Andrey Rublev and Alexander Zverev in the quarterfinals and semifinals, Sinner was clearly dominant against Tiafoe, who was looking to become the first local champion since Andy Roddick in 2006.

It is true that he saved three break points in the first set, two in the opening game and one at 4-4. But from the latter onwards his level began to be unreachable for Tiafoe. Although he let a set point slip away on return in the twelfth game, he did not miss the next one at 6/4 in the tie-break.

The balance tipped even further in his favour when he broke in the opening game of the second set, as well as in the 3-1 lead. From there he went unwavering until the end of the match that took an hour and 36 minutes to leave his Lexus ATP HeadToHead with Tiafoe at 4-1.

The American, making his debut in a Masters 1000 final, had some hope by saving three match points at 1-5 with his serve. After all, he had come back from 2-5 down in the third set the day before, as well as saving two match points against Holger Rune in the semi-finals. But this time his opponent did not hesitate.

“It was a very difficult, tough week. I’m very happy with today’s match,” Sinner said in his on-court interview. “It was very tough mentally, I tried to do my best. We were both pretty tired from yesterday. We both felt a lot of tension, but I’m very happy with my level today, especially in the important moments.”

Jannik Sinner now has 15 career titles on the ATP Tour, and his third at Masters 1000 after also prevailing at Canada 2023 and Miami 2024. This makes him the seventh active player with at least this many titles in tournaments of this category, surpassed only by Novak Djokovic (40), Rafael Nadal (36), Daniil Medvedev (6), Zverev (6), Carlos Alcaraz (5) and Stefanos Tsitsipas (3).

His victory in Ohio also gives him a significant lead at the top. He now has a 2,300-point advantage over No. 2 Novak Djokovic. His next tournament will be the US Open, where he will be the top seed and where he only has 180 points to defend for the 2023 round of 16.

“Now it is definitely important to recover and be ready for New York. That is our main goal for this tour in the United States,” said Sinner. “I am very happy to be in the position I am in. I hope I can show good tennis in New York as well.”