Either Jannik Sinner or Mackenzie McDonald will win the biggest title of his career to date when they clash in the Citi Open final on Sunday evening.
That’s not to say that Sinner hasn’t ever been a part of matches even bigger than this one; he has. The 19-year-old Italian made a run to the French Open quarter-finals in 2020 and returned to the fourth round this spring (lost to Rafael Nadal on both occasions). He also played in the Miami Masters final in April (lost to Hubert Hurkacz).
What were previously the most memorable moments of McDonald’s career came in the fourth round of two Grand Slams (lost to Milos Raonic at Wimbledon in 2018 and to Daniil Medvedev at the 2021 Australian Open). This marks the 26-year-old American’s first-ever appearance in an ATP title match.
McDonald has made it happen by beating Nick Kyrgios, Benoit Paire, Ilya Ivashka, Denis Kudla, and Kei Nishikori–the latter in a three-set thriller on Saturday night.
Sinner has not dropped a single set this week, taking out Emil Ruusuvuori, Sebastian Korda, Steve Johnson, and Jenson Brooksby. The world No. 24 had been struggling prior to the hard-court summer, but some success on the doubles court (he captured the Atlanta title with Reilly Opelka last week) may have restored his confidence just in time for Washington, D.C. and the rest of the U.S. Open series.
Sinner’s experience on this kind of stage and his level of play so far in the district suggest that he should have the edge on Sunday.
Pick: Sinner in 2
WWW?
Mcdonald is very underrated. I actually think he’s top 30-40 in the world on hard courts. Obviously his ranking is held back a significant amount by his clay performances.
I haven’t crunched my numbers since Wimbledon and I’m just taking a wild guess, but I think this should be competitive.
McDonald is an NCAA champion and it’s his territory. I’m not saying he will win but I don’t think he’s totally new to this kind of environment.
Benoit Paire, Ilya Ivashka, Denis Kudla, and Kei Nishikori were all in solid form too.
I just crunched them and I have Sinner winner in 3. it’s close and could be in 2. Looks like a close contest to me.
I had a dream I was hanging out with Federer at some tennis court or park and I was suggesting he needed to hold on to the ball for longer because he was following through too quickly.
He agreed and said it was something he was working on. It was amazing how vivid the dream was.