TURIN: Jannik Sinner retained the ATP Finals title on Sunday after beating Carlos Alcaraz 7-6 (7/4), 7-5 and ending a turbulent season with victory over his great rival.
Italian Sinner brought the house down in Turin by winning the championship match tennis fans wanted to see, adding the prestigious year-ending tournament to the Australian Open and a landmark triumph at Wimbledon this season.
The 24-year-old also bounced back from a three-month ban which chopped out a large chunk of his season despite the World Anti-Doping Agency accepting that the Italian was accidentally contaminated with banned substance clostebol last year.
Sinner has now won 31 straight matches on indoor hard courts, a run which stretches back to the 2023 championship match at Turin’s Inalpi Arena which he lost to Novak Djokovic.
Four more wins on indoor hard courts would draw him level with Djokovic’s tally set between 2012 and 2015 — the second-highest in the Open era but some way behind John McEnroe’s record of 47.
He hasn’t dropped a set at the Finals since losing that final to the Serb two years ago, and he was imperious over the week in northern Italy.
While both Sinner and Alcaraz breezed into the final, the championship game was an attritional affair, with each player rock-solid on serve until an enthralling tie-break at the end of the first set.
Sinner took the lead thanks to a brilliant lob which set up set point, and he made no mistake with a missile of a serve which Alcaraz could only limply send wide.
But Sinner immediately handed Alcaraz the advantage in the second set with two double-faults which helped hand his opponent a break of serve at the start of the frame.
Sinner hadn’t dropped a service game in the whole tournament up to that point but he broke back in game six to put the crowd on their feet.
And Sinner collapsed to the ground in joy when Alcaraz sent a backhand wide on the first championship point, before heading into the stands to share his joy with his family amid the roars of the crowd.