Jannik Sinner leads Taylor Fritz in Nitto ATP Finals championship match | ATP Tour

Match Report

Sinner takes opening set vs. Fritz in Nitto ATP Finals

Italian chasing Tour-leading eighth title of 2024

November 17, 2024

Jannik Sinner is just one set away from bookending his stellar season with a maiden trophy at the Nitto ATP Finals. The home favourite leads Taylor Fritz 6-4 In Sunday’s championship match.

Buoyed by the 12,500 strong crowd inside the Inalpi Arena, Sinner applied significant pressure to crack Fritz’s serve in the seventh game with signs of his most ruthless tennis on full display. Fritz saved the first three break points, but was unable to fend off the Italian, who executed an inch-perfect drop shot to convert on his fourth attempt.

Sinner’s deadly serve has been key to his campaign in Turin thus far, and it was pivotal in the first set against Fritz, during which he fired 10 aces from the 21 first serves that he landed, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

If he can go on to seal victory, Sinner will join Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic as the only men to win the Australian Open, US Open and Nitto ATP Finals in the same season. The 23-year-old would also become the first player born in the 2000s to capture the trophy at the prestigious season finale, having fallen to Djokovic in last year’s title clash.

A straight-sets triumph for Sinner would also mean that he would become the first player to win the Nitto ATP Finals without dropping a set since Ivan Lendl in 1986.

Fritz, who has guaranteed he will rise to a career-high of No. 4 in the PIF ATP Rankings, is aiming to become the first American champion at the event since Pete Sampras in 1999. If the 27-year-old can rally to victory, he will notch the biggest win of his career, having previously gone 0-10 vs. World No. 1 players.