The Italian tennis made a comeback with a victory at the Foro Italico. Top favorite in the Rome Masters 1000, world number 1 Jannik Sinner defeated Norwegian Casper Ruud in the final on Sunday.
Sinner (24 years old) won 6-4 6-4 against the 25th ranked player whom he had beaten 6-0 6-1 in the quarterfinals of the same tournament last year, becoming the first male Italian to inscribe his name on the Internazionali d’Italia trophy since 1976 and Adriano Panatta.
After a shaky start in the final where he lost his serve at the beginning but then broke his opponent right back, it wasn’t until the 19th game that Sinner took control with three drop shots that broke Ruud. The Italian, who was challenged in the semifinals by Russian Daniil Medvedev (ATP 9), then secured the first set with a white service game in 49 minutes.
With his serve back in form and an opponent making more mistakes, he quickly took a lead in the second set to go up 3-1, then 5-3, before sealing the match with a winning forehand shot.
“A golden period”
“It’s been a long time since an Italian won here, it’s a great thing for our tennis which is experiencing a golden period. It wasn’t a perfect match, but it caps off two and a half months of incredible tennis. I’m super happy, it was very physically demanding,” he said before the awards ceremony.
In the electrifying atmosphere of the Campo Centrale stadium, fueled by 10,500 spectators under a finally shining sun, Sinner achieved his 29th consecutive victory and extended his record-breaking streak of success in Masters 1000 to 34.
He clinched his 29th title, his 10th in Masters 1000, and his fifth of the year after Indian Wells, Miami, Monte-Carlo, and Madrid.
He also became the second player in history, after Novak Djokovic, to have won all nine Masters 1000 in less than three years, a feat that took the Serbian eleven years to achieve.
In the absence of his main rival Carlos Alcaraz, who was injured, Sinner will be the top favorite at the upcoming French Open (May 24-June 7), where he hopes to add to his collection of Grand Slam titles.
[Context: Jannik Sinner’s victory at the Rome Masters 1000] [Fact Check: Sinner became the first male Italian since 1976 to win the Internazionali d’Italia trophy]
