No US fairytale

Jannik Sinner against Taylor Fritz, LIVE from 8pm

Jannik Sinner

(Bild: Associated Press)

After the Australian Open, Jannik Sinner has also won the title at the US Open. The South Tyrolean lived up to his role as favorite on Sunday, defeating the American Taylor Fritz in the final in 2:16 hours 6:3, 6:4, 7:5. 

With his second triumph at a Grand Slam tournament, the 23-year-old underlined his standing as number one in the tennis world. The defeated Fritz could also be satisfied, as he had made it to a Major final for the first time.

Sinner, who also successfully completed his second Grand Slam final, will significantly extend his lead in the new world rankings over Alexander Zverev, who will be the new runner-up from Monday. This is thanks to a better service performance and a more consistent performance in general. There was no sign of a possible wrist injury. Financially, he can look forward to a winner's cheque in the amount of 3.6 million dollars. The 26-year-old Fritz collected half of this and will move up to seventh place in the rankings. He is therefore only two places short of equaling his best ranking to date.

"An incredible year"
"It's been an incredible year, so many big wins starting with the triumph in Australia, where I played so well. That gave me confidence, I kept working hard and things kept going well," Sinner summed up in the winner's interview. Even the positive doping tests in March, which only came to light in the run-up to the tournament and did not result in a ban and therefore caused a lot of discussion, did not throw him off course.

Here are all the statistics for the game:

"The last time was not easy for me, so the title has a very special meaning," emphasized the top athlete from Sexten. He only had to concede two sets during the tournament. "I did very well over the two weeks and also understood how important the mental part is in tennis," said Sinner. He said he was happy and proud to be able to enjoy this moment with his team. He dedicated the title to his aunt, who is in poor health. He then accepted the trophy from Andre Agassi.

Preliminary decision
Sinner got off to a dream start in the first set with a break for 1:0 and the following service game to zero. However, when Sinner had to serve for the second time, he made too many mistakes and after a missed volley into the net, the score was 2:2. The two players were absolutely on an equal footing with powerful baseline shots, but a first serve percentage of only 38 percent broke Fritz's neck in the end. Sinner took the service from him twice more at 4:3 and 6:3 and after 41 minutes, set one was history after the third set point.

In the second set, both players shone for long stretches with their strong service. That only changed at 4:5 from Fritz's point of view, who suddenly made unforced errors with the loss of the set in sight. Sinner took his first opportunity to make it 2:0 in sets.

Taylor Fritz

(Bild: 2024 Getty Images)

At the start of the third set, Fritz created three break chances at 0:40 in front of 24,000 spectators in the Arthur Ashe Stadium, but Sinner pulled his head out of the noose with a consistently strong series of serves and was able to take the lead again. At 3:2 from Sinner, things then got dicey on the other side, this time Fritz fended off two break points with powerful play and kept his chance alive. He took the momentum with him and made it 4:3 with a break after a Sinner double fault, giving him the chance to serve out the match at 5:4, but failed to do so.

The first serves did not reach the court at all or not so well, Sinner benefited from this and also from a volley error by his opponent after a rally. With three games in a row, the Italian ended a match well worth seeing in front of numerous celebrities, such as singer Taylor Swift and Oscar winner Dustin Hoffman. Sinner is the first Italian US Open champion and only the fourth player in the Open Era to achieve the feat of winning the title in Melbourne and Flushing Meadows in the same year.

No US fairytale 
It was the second victory for Sinner in their third direct duel. Andy Roddick (2003) thus remains the last American to win a Grand Slam tournament. The final thus ended doubly bitterly for the USA: on Saturday, Jessica Pegula had lost to Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus in two sets. Sabalenka had also triumphed in Melbourne at the beginning of the year.