Sinner beats Tiafoe to clinch courageous Cincinnati title

Jannik Sinner has shown the world the incredible tennis he is capable of. But it was grit and determination that he relied on to capture the Cincinnati Open title.

After battling through back-to-back three-setters against Andrey Rublev and Alexander Zverev, the No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings surged past home favourite Frances Tiafoe 7-6(4), 6-2 on Monday evening to lift the trophy at the Lindner Family Tennis Center.

“It was a very difficult week, tough week. I'm very happy about about today's match,” Sinner said in his on-court interview. “It was very tough mentally. Had such an amazing run here, and I tried to do my best today. We both were quite tired from yesterday. We both felt a lot of tension, but I'm very glad about [the] level I played today, especially in the important moments.”

The 23-year-old overcame Tiafoe in one hour and 37 minutes to move to 15-4 in tour-level finals. He now owns an ATP Tour-leading five trophies this season following triumphs in Melbourne, Rotterdam, Miami and Halle, and is the only player to claim two ATP Masters 1000 crowns in 2024.

𝐔𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐏𝐏𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐄 😤@janniksin is your 2024 Cincinnati Open CHAMPION 🏆@CincyTennis | #CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/fHpUu188Sn

— ATP Tour (@atptour) August 19, 2024

This week was the perfect example of a champion finding a way to win despite not being at his absolute sharpest. The Italian was seemingly hampered by his hip, at times favouring it and limping between points.

But when Sinner needed to, he produced jaw-dropping ball-striking to knock down every challenge in front of him. He played a tie-break fitting of his top seed to take the lead against a resurgent Tiafoe, who also persevered to reach the final, saving two match points in his semi-final against Holger Rune.

From there, the American had no answer for Sinner’s baseline play. Tiafoe missed a forehand long in the first game of the second set to relinquish the first service break of the match, and he was never able to regain touch with his opponent.

“It has been a tough week, some ups and downs, which is normal to have,” Sinner said. “But how I handled the very important moments in each match, I'm very happy.”

As the match wore on, Sinner grew increasingly confident and laced multiple forehand winners down the line on the run. It seemed everything he touched on that wing turned to gold on centre court. The harder he swung, the more the ball landed in.

The Italian made clear the focal point of his season was the Paris Olympics, from which he withdrew due to tonsillitis. Then when he lost in the Montreal quarter-finals to Andrey Rublev and his hip acted up, it was unclear how quickly the season’s first Nitto ATP Finals qualifier would bounce back.

But after rallying from a set down to Rublev in the quarter-finals and finding a way past Zverev to avoid a fifth consecutive Lexus ATP Head2Head loss to the German, Sinner found his stride.

The World No. 1 survived and then thrived to become the youngest Cincinnati champion since Andy Murray emerged victorious in Ohio as a 21-year-old in 2008. Sinner, who saved all three break points he faced against Tiafoe according to Infosys ATP Stats, also extended his lead in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin to 1,440 points over second-placed Carlos Alcaraz.

Instead of arriving at the US Open wondering about his form, Sinner will now take confidence knowing he persevered in Cincinnati without his very best game to claim his third Masters 1000 title.

”Now, for sure, it's important to recover, to be to be ready for New York. This is our main goal here for this U.S. swing,” Sinner said. “I’m very happy to be in a position where I am and just trying to keep going mentally, having this hunger to keep playing, and hopefully I can show some good tennis also New York.”

Tiafoe began the week with a 19-18 record for his season. But under the tutelage of new coach David Witt, the American thrilled his home crowd and defeated three Top 20 players en route to his maiden Masters 1000 final.

“I’ve been struggling for a really long time so to have a week like this really means a lot,” Tiafoe said to his team during the trophy ceremony. “You guys know how tough it’s been for me for a while, so to have a week like this is great… Let’s stay with it.”