Sinner defeats tenacious De Minaur to win Rotterdam Open
The reigning Australian Open champion beat Alex De Minaur 7-5, 6-4 to win his 13th career title and his second trophy of the season
Jannik Sinner wins the 2024 Rotterdam Open title © Laurent Lairys / Panoramic
Jannik Sinner overcame a spirited performance from Alex De Minaur in the final of the Rotterdam Open, beating the Australian 7-5, 6-4 to win his second title of the season.
It is the Italian’s 13th career title and comes hot on the heels of his superb breakthrough victory at the Australian Open last month.
It also means that Sinner will rise to a career-high ranking of No 3 in the world at the start of the new week.
For De Minaur, further disappointment against an opponent who now holds a 7-0 winning record against him, including last year’s Canadian Open victory in Toronto.
Today’s match was a much closer affair, however, in what was an absorbing final. Sinner’s precise, consistent depth up against De Minaur’s supreme ability to chase down seemingly lost balls made for frequent lengthy rallies consisting of some breathtaking exchanges.
sinner’s momentum continues in entertaining final
It was the Italian who struck first, breaking De Minaur in the fifth game of the opening stanza. But the Australian hit back in the tenth game as Sinner served for the set at 5-4. He could not consolidate his break however, as Sinner took De Minaur’s serve again in the very next game before serving out the first set.
Sinner again made the decisive first move in the second, breaking his opponent in the fifth game only for De Minaur to break straight back.
Once again, however, the Australian could not consolidate, with Sinner’s ability to counterpunch proving a decisive factor in the outcome of the match.
The Italian broke again in the seventh game, before holding serve for the rest of the set to win his first Rotterdam Open title. With it, a 13th career title and a career-high ranking of third in the world.
It was an impressive performance from De Minaur, who pushed Sinner hard throughout the contest and will likely feel as though he couldn’t have done much more to try and grind the Italian down.
“Alex, once again against you it’s very tough,” Sinner said during his winner’s speech after the match.
“It’s better if we see each other playing doubles on the same side than playing against each other.
“To you and your team, just keep working. You’re doing an amazing job and improving week after week. I wish you all the best for the rest of the season.
“My team, we did a really good job some weeks ago. Now we did a very, very good job here. I’m really proud about my level, how I played this whole week. We’ve been in tough situations but we handle it the right way.”
Attention for both players will now turn to the middle-east swing, should they choose to play it, before the start of the prestigious ‘Sunshine Double’ that is Indian Wells and the Miami Open next month.
For De Minaur, progress remains steady and consistent, with his improved result against Sinner today evidence that things are moving in the right direction.
The Italian, meanwhile, is absolutely surging.
Following his maiden Grand Slam title in Melbourne last month, Sinner has now extended his winning streak to 15 matches and remains unbeaten in 2024.
Having backed up his Australian Open title with another trophy in Rotterdam, Sinner’s sky-rocketing trajectory only continues to gather remarkable pace and momentum.
