Sinner too good for De Minaur–again–en route to another title in Rotterdam

Jannik Sinner extended his season-opening unbeaten streak to 12 matches when he defeated Alex de Minaur 7-5, 6-4 in the ABN AMRO Open final on Sunday afternoon. It is Sinner’s second title already in 2024, having previously triumphed at a Grand Slam for the first time at the Australian Open.

Given both his incredible current form and the head-to-head matchup, there was little doubt that Sinner would lift the trophy. After all, the world No. 4 was 6-0 lifetime against De Minaur and 14-1 in total sets heading into Sunday’s contest.

Even if there was an air of inevitability about the outcome, De Minaur did not make it easy for his nemesis. The 11th-ranked Australian earned a break back at 5-4 in the opening set, but another deuce game at 5-5 resulted in what proved to be a decisive break for Sinner. It was a similar story in set two. A whole host of marathon games saw Sinner break, get broken back, and break again for 4-3.

At that point the 22-year-old finally put the clamps down on his serve and delivered routine holds at 4-3 and 5-4 to clinch victory.

“What you’ve done not only this week but this whole year is great to see, and it couldn’t happen to a better guy,” De Minaur told Sinner during the trophy ceremony before joking, “I’m not too sure” about the prospect of the Italian losing a single match in 2024.

Sinner, who was runner-up to Daniil Medvedev at the 2023 Rotterdam event, has now won three consecutive ATP 500s in a row dating back to Beijing and Vienna last fall. He will pass Medvedev for No. 3 in the rankings on Monday.

“I felt like the match was really good in one way,” Sinner assessed. “We both played well. I felt like I could have served a little bit better, but these are the details that maybe in the future can make me a little bit stronger also. An amazing week it has been.”

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