Jannik Sinner beat a Top 5 for the first time.
Jannik Sinner, number 10 in the world, won the sixth ATP tournament of his career this Sunday, in Umag, beating 6-7 (5/7), 6-1, 6-1 on Croatian soil against Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, 5 ° in the world and current champion of that tournament.
Winner of his first title of the season, the 20-year-old Italian was competing in his first final on the circuit from Antwerp in October 2021.
“I’ve had a tough year so far, but I’ve continued to work hard to finally raise a trophy,” said the winner.
Sinner had already defeated Alcaraz a month ago on London grass at Wimbledon in the round of 16.
This Sunday the two young promises showed great solidity in the service in the first set, which Alcaraz ended up taking at the tie-break.
At the start of the second heat, Sinner saved six break points with 0-1 before ending 6-1 against an Alcaraz that falls apart.
“Those six saved break balls were perhaps the key to the game. In that moment I was able to raise the level of play”, analyzed the Italian.
With physical problems to an ankle from the previous day’s semifinal against Giulio Zeppieri, Alcaraz have lost 12 of the last 14 games of the match, both 6-1 in the last two sets.
As a consolation, the 19-year-old Spaniard, with four titles won this year (Rio, Miami, Barcelona and Madrid) will rise to fourth place in the ATP rankings on Monday.
“I haven’t played very well this week and Jannik deserves to win. But I’ll find the solution to beat him next time,” said Alcaraz.
Sinner, meanwhile, became the third Italian to conquer Umag after Fabio Fognini in 2016 and Marco Cecchinato in 2018.
With information from AFP
Source: Clarin
