Match report
Sinner continues his hot run, takes the Rotterdam crown
The top seed is closing in on its second title of the season
February 18, 2024
Jannik Sinner celebrates his second title of the season after triumphing in Rotterdam.
By ATP staff
There is no stopping Jannik Sinner right now.
The Italian captured his second tour-level title of the season on Sunday when he defeated Alex de Minaur 7-5, 6-4 to win the ABN AMRO Open for the first time.
The 22-year-old produced his trademark style of clean, attacking tennis to defeat the Australian in Rotterdam. Sinner hit 23 winners and recovered from squandering a break advantage in both sets to claim his 15th consecutive tour-level victory after two hours and five minutes. He holds a perfect 7-0 record in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series.
Sinner, who captured his first major crown at the Australian Open last month, will move up to a career-high No. 3 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings on Monday. No Italian has ever been so high.
“My team, we did a really good job a few weeks ago and now we did a really good job here,” Sinner said. “I’m really proud of the level I played all week. We were in tough situations but we handled it the right way. We’ll always try to improve, that’s the most important thing.”
Sinner has now won three consecutive ATP 500 events he has played (also Beijing and Vienna in late 2023). After his run at the Aussie Open, the Italian played with confidence and purpose all week, dropping just one set at the tough indoor tournament for his 12th title at tournament level.
The 2019 Next Gen ATP Finals champion has now won 32 of his last 34 matches. His only losses were to Ben Shelton in Shanghai and Novak Djokovic in the Nitto ATP Finals title match.
De Minaur will move to a career-high No. 9 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings on Monday. The Australian, who beat Grigor Dimitrov in the semifinals, holds a 7-8 record in finals at tour level.
Champion @abnamroopen 🏆🎾@janniksin takes the title in Rotterdam with a magic 🎱 #ShotQuality 👊#TennisInsights | @atptur | #abnamroopen pic.twitter.com/z6mUuIA9DO
— Tennis Insights (@tennis_insights) February 18, 2024
In a high-intensity clash, bruising key rallies were a common theme throughout the first set. After Sinner won a break in the first game, he broke serve at 5-4, with De Minaur saving four set points to level. However, the Italian was not challenged as he broke straight in the next game when De Minaur decided to let a volley land. The Italian then held on comfortably to advance.
The top seed was forced to dig deep at times in the second set against De Minaur, who pushed the Italian to the limit with his flat groundstrokes. However, as has been the case for the past few months, Sinner had the answers. Just like in the first set, Sinner was stuck after the initial break but rallied and continued to hit through the fifth seed to win, raising his hands in joy.