Triumph in the final

Sinner the “winner” in Halle: victory over Hurkacz!

Jannik Sinner(Bild: AFP)

Jannik Sinner impressively underlined his rise to become the new number 1 in men's tennis on Sunday!

The 22-year-old Italian defeated the No. 6 seed from Poland 7:6(8),7:6(2) after 1:49 hours at the ATP 500 tournament in Halle and was delighted to win his first title on grass in time for Wimbledon. After the Australian Open, Rotterdam and Miami, Sinner won his fourth title of the season, his 14th overall.

"It means a lot to me, it was a tough match against Hubi," said Sinner on court. "It was just a few points that decided the match." Sinner, who won 94 percent of his first serves, was particularly cool in the tiebreaks. Sinner is the first player since Andy Murray in 2016 to win his first tournament as the newly crowned No. 1.

Good prerequisites for Wimbledon, where he lost to Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals last year. With this title, Sinner has extended his lead over Djokovic in the ATP ranking to 1530 points.

Among the women, Jessica Pegula (USA) and Julia Putinzewa did particularly well for the third Grand Slam tournament starting in eight days' time. Pegula was in action twice in Berlin. First, the world number five from the USA won the semi-final against her top-seeded compatriot Coco Gauff 7:5, 7:6(2), which was abandoned in the tie-break of the second set, and then she also won the high-class final. She defeated Jannik Sinner's girlfriend, the Russian Anna Kalinskaya, 6:7(0), 6:4, 7:6(3) and set the mood for Wimbledon with her fifth WTA title.

In Birmingham, Kazakhstan's Putintseva beat Australia's Ajla Tomljanovic 6:1, 7:6(8) in a surprise final.