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.”
too good, Sinner
Alex performed really well, winning more points and return points for most of the match. He also fought back after going down a break a couple of times. Impressive.