Won the tournament in Halle: Jannik Sinner © APA/afp / CARMEN JASPERSEN

The fabulous season continues: Sinner is the king in Halle

Around two weeks ago, Jannik Sinner was given a ceremonial welcome in his hometown of Sexten to honor him for his historic successes. Just a few days later, the 22-year-old bagged another prestigious tournament victory. The newly crowned world number 1 won his first grass court title in Halle.

June 23, 2024

From: leo

Jannik Sinner is now the big favorite for Wimbledon: The South Tyrolean began the week at the ATP 500 tournament in North Rhine-Westphalia with difficulties, coming close to defeat in the first three rounds, only to gain more and more confidence and show his best performance in the final. His good friend Hubert Hurkacz stood up to the Sexten superstar for a long time, but in the decisive moments the class difference came to the fore. Sinner won the match, in which there was not a single break, 7:6 and 7:6.

It is the youngster's 14th title in total, the fourth of the current season. The fact that he had never triumphed on grass before makes this success all the more special. He has thus further extended his lead in the world rankings and in the annual rankings. But what is much more important for the protégé of Simone Vagnozzi and Darren Cahill is the perfect preparation for the third Grand Slam tournament of the year: Wimbledon, which begins in eight days.

Sinner turns up the heat in the tiebreak

Even before the match, it was clear that only a few points would make the difference. Hurkacz is one of the best servers on the tour and hardly ever concedes any breaks. This theory turned out to be true: the showdown between the two friends turned into a real service festival in which the returners had a tough time. In the first set, each had only one chance to break their opponent's serve. However, the nerves of both players meant that the match went into a tiebreak. The Sextner's extraordinary defensive skills made the decisive difference here.

The spectators were presented with a different picture in the second set: While the 22-year-old hardly lost any points on his own serve, Hurkacz was repeatedly under pressure. The 2-meter giant from Wroclaw staggered but did not fall. His service came to his aid and saved him in the tiebreak. Sinner played even better in this set than before and converted his second match point after 1.51 hour and XNUMX minutes. He looked happily towards his box, where coach Cahill, physiotherapist Giacomo Naldi and father Hanspeter were hugging each other.

Sinner was not only happy about the 500 world ranking points that consolidated his position at the top, but also about the 421 euros in prize money. The only downside: his girlfriend Anna Kalinskaya lost the final at the WTA 500 tournament in Berlin on Sunday against Jessica Pegula after missing five match points with 7:6, 4.6 and 6:7.