Italian wild card Jannik Sinner crowned his dream season with the Next Gen ATP Finals title after beating Australia’s Alex De Minaur 4-2 4-1 4-2. Sinner scored his second top 20 title of the year after beating Gael Monfils last month in Antwerp. Sinner broke once in each set and fended off all nine points he faced.
Sinner is the third Next Gen Finals champion following in the footsteps of Hyeon Chung and Stefanos Tsitsipas, who won the first two editions of this tournament respectively in 2017 and 2018.
Both players saved two break points in the opening games of the first sets. Sinner got a break at love in the sixth game to seal the opening set 4-2 after 22 minutes with a backhand return. The 18-year-old fended off all seven break points in the second set before breaking serve at love to open up a 2-0. Sinner won all three of his service games in the second set on the deciding point. He saved two break points with two winners, as he was serving at 3-1, and sealed the second set with a forehand winner at 3-1 on the deciding point.
Sinner got another break with a big backhand at 1-1 on his third break point in the third set and closed out the match after a backhand error from De Minaur.
Sinner started the year as world number 553 and improved his ranking by more than 450 points and ended the season ranked world number 95. He is the youngest player in the top 100. He reached the semifinal in Antwerp and qualified for his first Grand Slam Main Draw at the US Open where he lost to Stan Wawrinka in four sets in the opening round.
“I don’t have words. He is an unbelievable player. I just tried to play my game and not make any errors. I didn’t make many today. I am very happy with my performance. The week has been unbelievable. You can hear the crowd now. I am very happy. I would not be here. I thank the organisers for giving me the wild card. I would not be here without the wild card, so thanks to everyone. I hope to be back here next year. It was a long season. I will work with my team to prepare for the next year”, said Sinner.
De Minaur lost his second consecutive final at this event after finishing runner-up to Stefanos Tsitsipas last year but he played a solid tournament in which he won all three round robin matches and the semifinal against Frances Tiafoe. De Minaur has a record of eight wins in ten matches played in the past two editions of this tournament.
“It’s been a great week. Jannik was too good. I am happy with my year and I am looking forward to next year. This season is not over. I will stay in Milan to train with the Australian team for the Davis Cup in Madrid”,said De Minaur.
