The next Sinner milestone: tournament victory in Washington

No crisis: Sinner showed what he is made of at the tournament in the capital of the United States this week. In a highly exciting final, the Pusterer beat Mackenzie McDonald 2:54, 7:5 and 4:6 after 7:5 hours of play. Sinner has not only shattered his negative streak of three opening defeats in a row, no: at the age of 19 (he will be 20 in a week) in Washington, he became the youngest winner of an ATP 500 tournament (this category has existed since 2009). .

Sinner went into the game as favorite against McDonald - even though the American had eliminated well-known players such as Benoit Paire, Nick Kyrgios and Kei Nishikori on the way to the final. In the end it was the difficult match that was expected. Already in the first round, Sinner and McDonald had some top-class rallies. Both served each other twice. Sinner was actually always the leading player. But his opponent had nerves of steel and fended off numerous break and set points. McDonald fights like a lion When the score was 6:5 from Sinner's point of view, things got interesting again. The South Tyrolean was ahead 40-0 when McDonald served. But then the man from California scored three points in a row. But Sinner didn't let that throw him off his game either. The South Tyrolean was finally able to convert his 1th set point after 07:11 hours of play. Mackenzie McDonald made life difficult for Jannik Sinner. © APA/getty / Mitchell Layton

In the second round, both served their serves until the score was 2:3. Then Sinner wobbled, while McDonald, who put in an incredible effort, immediately took advantage of his first of two break points in this game. As a result, the South Tyrolean was no longer able to take over the service from the American. McDonald thus won the second set 3:2. For Sinner it was the first set loss in this tournament. A high-class finale – Sinner stays cool This was a difficult situation for Sinner, especially since his opponent fought like a lion and was able to run through almost every ball. In addition, Sinner is usually used to being the fan favorite on tour. This was clearly not the case against local hero McDonald. But Sinner wouldn't be Sinner if he didn't stay calm in such a situation. The 19-year-old returned to his old strength in the decisive third set and immediately took the first service from his opponent, who was a good 3 years older than him. He then briefly let his emotions run wild. The Pusterer's relief was noticeable, especially since he had missed countless break chances in this game so far.

When the score was 3:1, Sinner failed to serve the first serve several times. Due to this circumstance, McDonald had a total of three break opportunities. However, Sinner remained calm, increased his odds again on the first serve and still won the game. When the score was 1:5, Sinner had two match points, but the word pressure is a foreign word for McDonald these days. The 2-year-old not only fended off two match points and break points 26 and 19, but also promptly got the re-break. Jannik Sinner had to endure many setbacks. © APA/getty / Mitchell Layton

The momentum was back on the local hero's side. But Sinner shook himself briefly and scored some spectacular points on McDonald's serve. However, the South Tyrolean was unlucky twice with the edge of the net and so McDonald equalized to 5:5. The 7.500 spectators in Washington were totally over the moon after this game because both players tried their luck on offense and didn't give up a ball on defense. It was a well-balanced match at a high level that couldn't be surpassed in terms of excitement. Finally, Sinner converted his 3rd match and 21st break point against the stand-up man McDonald on his serve to make it 7:5. Sinner climbs up Sinner wins the highest title of his career to date. So far in his career he has won two tournaments at ATP level, namely in Sofia and in Melbourne (both 250). With his triumph in Washington, Sinner worked his way up to 15th place in the world rankings. The South Tyrolean gained 9 positions this week. This means he is now further ahead than ever before. By the way: Opponent McDonald is now ranked 67th in the ATP computer. The American was previously number 107 in the world rankings.

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The next Sinner milestone: tournament victory in Washington

Jannik Sinner has set the next milestone in his young tennis career. The man from Sexten won the tournament in Washington on Monday night (CEST) and thus celebrated the greatest success of his career to date.

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