By Amy Tennery
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Jannik Sinner produced a brutal show of baseline energy as he grew to become the primary Italian man to win the U.S. Open with a 6-3 6-4 7-5 win over American Taylor Fritz within the ultimate on Sunday.
Sinner held aloft his arms in celebration after breaking Fritz to clinch the title and cheers rang round Arthur Ashe Stadium, though dwelling followers had hoped to see Fritz finish a 21-year U.S. males’s Grand Slam drought.
Sinner was beneath a cloud of controversy initially of the event after revelations that he examined constructive twice for an anabolic agent in March however prevented a ban when an impartial tribunal accepted his declare that the constructive exams have been the results of an unintentional contamination.
The highest seed blocked out the furore in New York and with the win claimed his second Grand Slam title after successful the Australian Open earlier this yr.
“We just went day-by-day, trying to practice well, even on the days off, believing in ourselves which is the most important. I understood, especially in this tournament, how important the mental part is in this sport,” mentioned Sinner.
“I would like to thank everyone for being so fair in this amazing arena. It was a huge pleasure.”
Fritz received off to a dreadful begin when he handed Sinner the break with an unforced error within the first sport however settled his nerves, breaking again within the fourth sport and surviving a 23-shot rally to avoid wasting break level within the fifth.
Nevertheless it was solely a matter of time earlier than the Italian would hit his stride and he broke the twelfth seeded American with a wonderfully positioned drop shot within the seventh sport. Fritz dropped his serve once more on set level.
The fired up dwelling crowd that included pop megastar Taylor Swift tried to raise Fritz with chants of “USA!” within the second set.
PILED MISERY
Nonetheless, the momentum swung in Sinner’s path as he broke Fritz on set level from the baseline and he piled additional distress on the American when he clawed again from triple break level down within the opening sport of the third set.
Fritz clung on and even went up a break however was left smacking his racket onto the court docket in frustration when he hit a volley into the online to let Sinner break again within the tenth.
Sinner broke for a sixth time within the contest to wrap up the win, with Fritz swiping a forehand into the online on match level.
“This title for me means so much because the last period of my career was really not easy,” mentioned Sinner, who climbed the stands to have fun together with his workforce as followers shouted “Bravo!” round him.
With U.S. nice Andre Agassi on court docket for the presentation ceremony, Fritz advised the group: “I know we’ve been waiting for a champion for a long time so I’m sorry I couldn’t get it done this time.
“However I’m gonna hold working and hopefully I’ll get it the following time.”
The win capped a blockbuster year for Sinner, who came back from two sets down to triumph at Melbourne Park and won in Miami and Cincinnati.
The world number one leaves New York with an impressive 55-5 win-loss record for the year, leaving rivals such as Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz in his wake.
“So many big wins for me this season, starting off with Australia and playing so well there which gave me confidence for until now,” he mentioned.
“But the work never stops. I know that I still can improve as we saw also today a couple of things but you have to be proud with what you have.”