Jannik Sinner on course to join Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic in elite list after Cincinnati Open title win

Jannik Sinner wrapped up a successful week in Cincinnati with his second Masters title in 2024.

Jannik Sinner will be among the favourites to win the US Open title after taking down American Frances Tiafoe on Tuesday to win the Cincinnati Open for the first time. The Italian World No. #1 outlasted Tiafoe 7-6(4), 6-2 in one hour and 37 minutes to lift the trophy at the Lindner Family Tennis Center. It was also his fourth win in five meetings with Tiafoe.

Tiafoe saw off Wimbledon semi-finalist Lorenzo Musetti and the ever-dangerous Holger Rune en route to the Cincinnati Open final.

Sinner, despite not being his sharpest thanks to an ailing hip injury, still came through to win his first title since Halle. The Italian rallied back from a set down against Andrey Rublev in the quarterfinals before taking out Alexander Zverev in the last four to avoid a fifth straight loss to the German. It was a closely fought semi-final with two tiebreaks being played.

The young Italian has a 15-4 record in finals on the ATP tour and leads the field, having picked up his fifth trophy after triumphs in Melbourne, Rotterdam, Miami and Halle. Sinner is now 5-0 in tour-level finals this season and 48-5 overall – a winning percentage of 90.6%, the best on tour.

Only Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal can boast of a 90% plus winning percentage since the introduction of the ATP Masters format in 1990. Among these players, Nadal has the unique distinction of winning the Canada Cincinnati double in 2013.

Also Read: How many titles has Jannik Sinner won this year?

Sinner widens the lead to 2400 points at the top of the rankings over Alcaraz after the defending champion was bundled out in the second round by Gael Monfils. The Italian also leads the Spaniard in the race to Turin by 1440 points.

The 23-year-old is comfortably placed to finish the year on top of the table, but with the US Open coming up next week, there is still an opportunity for Alcaraz to play catch-up. Alcaraz will have to soak up the pressure from Zverev, who is close on the Spaniard’s heels in the race to Turin, trailing by a mere 245 points.

It was a good week for Frances Tiafoe, who climbed from No. 26 to No. 20 thanks to his final run at Cincinnati. Thanks to Tiafoe’s performance, five Americans are in the ATP Top 20 for the first time since 1997. The other Americans on the list are Taylor Fritz (12), Ben Shelton (13), Tommy Paul (14) and Seb Korda (16).

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