CINCINNATI: World number one Jannik Sinner on Monday lifted his third ATP Masters trophy as the world number one beat Frances Tiafoe 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 to win the Cincinnati Open.

The Italian top seed warmed up for next week’s US Open in style, biding his time in a hard-fought first set before breaking the match open in the second.

Tiafoe, whose game faded after losing the first-set tiebreaker, still made an impression.

The American, who moves into the ranking top-20, saved three match points before Sinner claimed his 15th career title.

Cincinnati is the fifth trophy of 2024 for the 23-year-old Italian, who began the season with an Aus­t­ralian Open crown in Melbourne.

“I’m happy, this was a very difficult week,” Sinner said. “It was tough mentally but I tried to do my best.

“Frances and I were both tired from the [Sunday] semi-finals and there was a lot of tension. I’m just glad I kept my level in the important moments. I handled the situations on court well.

“There were many ups and downs, but that’s normal. At the big moments of each match I played well.”

Sinner heads to the Aug 26 start of the US Open as a major favourite, standing more than 2,000 points clear of world number two Novak Djokovic.

Against Tiafoe, Sinner hit 29 winners, including 13 aces and broke the American twice from eight attempts.

The pair duelled for nearly an hour in the opening set, with the Italian making 10 aces on the way into a tiebreaker.

One crack in Tiafoe’s defence was enough to hand Sinner two set point chances, with the first converted by the top seed for the early lead.

Tiafoe dropped serve to start the second as his reserves began to run dry, Sinner achieved a double break in a fifth game lasting for more than 10 minutes with seven deuces.

With a 4-1 lead, the Italian still had to fight, with Tiafoe saving three match points to climb to 5-2 before the top seed completed his work a game later.

Sinner is the youngest champion here since Andy Murray in 2008.

SABALENKA LIFTS TITLE

Aryna Sabalenka thrust herself into US Open title contention on Monday with a 6-3, 7-5 defeat of Jessica Pegula to win the ATP/WTA Cincinnati Open.

The third seed, who missed Wimbledon with a shoulder injury, won a trophy for the first time since collecting her second Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January.

Sabalenka had it all her way against the American sixth seed until the closing stages when she lost serve for the first time leading a set and 5-4.

But a quick re-break and another hold of serve solved that problem and produced a first Masters-level trophy on hardcourt since 2021 for the Belarus player.

“I really couldn’t have wished for more — it was a really great day at the office,” Sabalenka said afterwards. “Just super happy with the level I played in the final and I was able to get this title. It’s really important going into the US Open.”

Sabalenka — beaten in last year’s US Open final — has now defeated Pegula, champion last week in Toronto, in five of seven matches.

The winner will move to second in the world in the WTA rankings and has emerged as a serious contender when the US Open begins.

“I’m sure Jess and I will have more battles in the future,” Sabalenka said. “Let’s keep it up.”

The win marked Sabalenka’s sixth WTA 1000 title and the 15th of her career.

She fired 10 aces and broke three times in the 1hr 15min success.

The final was the first at Cinci­nnati between two top-10 opponents since Garbine Mugu­ruza defeated Simona Halep here in 2017.

Sabalenka wasted no time in establishing superiority with her break of Pegula for 3-1 in the first set, a margin which she kept throughout the 30-minute opener.

The third seed began the second set with an immediate break of Pegula and served up four games to love.

But the seed was undone while serving for victory leading 5-4.

Sabalenka was broken for the first time in the match as her sixth-seeded opponent made a late stand.

But Sabalenka broke straight back for a 6-5 lead and polished off the win on her first match point.

Published in Dawn, August 21st, 2024