Sinner sees off Tiafoe in Cincinnati for fifth title of the season
Sinner raised his level in crucial moments to edge Tiafoe in the opening set
Jannik Sinner – Cincinnati 2024 © Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports/Sipa USA/SIPA
Jannik Sinner defeated Frances Tiafoe 7-6 (4), 6-2 to win the Cincinnati ATP Masters 1000 on Monday night in Ohio, claiming his fifth title of the season.
The Italian now improves to 5-0 in finals in 2024, and becomes the only man to win multiple ATP Masters 1000 events, having claimed the Miami Masters earlier in the year.
Tiafoe put up a spirited fight in front of a raucous home crowd, with very little to split the pair in the opening set, before Sinner pulled away in the second.
“It was a very difficult week, tough week,” confessed Sinner after the match. “We’ve had some tough times.”
“I’m very happy about today’s match. It was very tough mentally, he had such an amazing run here. I tried to do my best today.
“I’m very happy to win this tournament here. It’s a special week for me always, because it’s my birthday week here.
“I usually don’t like birthdays, but this one feels very special.”
Sinner raises level in crucial moments to win first set
Across 12 games in the opening set, there was nothing between Sinner and Tiafoe.
The American proved up to the challenge of taking on the world No 1 in a final, holding his own in the early exchanges and remaining solid behind his own serve.
Tiafoe even conjured up more of the first set opportunities, generating three break points on Sinner’s serve in the opening set. He was unable to capitalise on any of them, however, and after he saw off a set point on his own serve at 5-4, 30-40, the set went to a deserved tiebreak.
It was a few moments of Sinner magic that made the difference in the tiebreak. First, a brilliant return at full stretch, rocketing at Tiafoe’s toes to gain a mini-break. Then, the tenacity to grind Tiafoe down in a 33-hot rally – the longest of the tournament – which ultimately gave him the breaker 7-4.
Sinner cuts out errors, runs away with second set
In the second set, Sinner flexed his muscles as world No 1 and ran away with the match.
He began by grabbing a break in the opening game, snuffing out any hope Tiafoe had of a quick comeback in the second set. This took the steam out of the American, who only managed to win one point on Sinner’s serve across the set.
Sinner also tightened up his unforced errors, hitting a third as many in the second as he did in the first. Quickly, he had a 5-1 lead and two match points on Tiafoe’s serve.
Not one to go down without a fight, Tiafoe wound back the clock to give shades of his match against Rune – where he came back from 5-2 down – and saved the match points, holding serve for 5-2.
However, there was to be no fairytale comeback this time as Sinner served out the match to love, maintaining his perfect record in finals in 2024.
“You’re a great player. I’m tired, I’m not used to playing as many matches as you guys do,” confessed Tiafoe to Sinner at the net, before the Italian returned the favour in his post-match speech.
“Frances, I’m super happy to see you playing this level again,” Sinner said. “I wish you all the best, you’re making very good progress.”
Both players taking positives ahead of US Open
For Sinner, a win here in Cincinnati will be a big boost heading into the US Open in New York next week. The 23-year-old was made to dig deep on several occasions, but came up with the goods in crucial moments.
“We were both very tired from yesterday, both felt a lot of tension, but I’m very glad about the level I played today especially in the important moments,” shared Sinner.
“[I’m most proud of] how I handled the situation on court,” he continued. “It’s been a tough week. Some ups and downs which is normal to have. The very important moments in each match… I’m very happy.
“It’s important to recover, to be ready for New York. This is our main goal here in this US swing. I’m very happy to be in the position where I am. Just keep going mentally, to have this hunger to keep playing. Hopefully I can show some good tennis in New York.”
Tiafoe is also taking positives from the experience, labelling his Cincinnati run as the best week of his career.
“I wanted to say thank you to Cincinnati for an unbelievable week. Best week of my career so far,” he declared.
“I’ve been struggling for a really long time, so to have a week like this is really great, especially going into New York.”
