Jannik Sinner produced a brutal display of baseline power as he became the first Italian man to win the US Open with a 6-3 6-4 7-5 victory over American Taylor Fritz in the final.
Sinner held his arms aloft in celebration after breaking Fritz to clinch the title and cheers rang around Arthur Ashe Stadium on Sunday (local time), even though home fans had hoped to see Fritz end a 21-year American drought in men’s grand slams.
The Italian was under a cloud of controversy at the start of the tournament after revelations that he tested positive twice for an anabolic agent in March. He avoided a ban when an independent tribunal accepted his claim that the positive tests were the result of an unintentional contamination.
The top seed blocked out the furore in New York and with the win claimed his second grand slam title after winning the Australian Open in January.
“So many big wins for me this season, starting off with Australia and playing so well there, which gave me confidence for now,” Sinner said.
Fritz got off to a dreadful start when he handed Sinner a break of serve with an unforced error in the first game. He settled his nerves, breaking back in the fourth game and surviving a 23-shot rally to save break point in the fifth.
But it was only a matter of time before Sinner would hit his stride and he broke the 12th-seeded American with a perfectly placed drop shot in the seventh game. Fritz dropped his serve again on set point.
The fired-up home crowd tried to lift Fritz with chants of “USA!” in the second set.
However, the momentum swung in Sinner’s direction as he broke Fritz on set point from the baseline, and he piled further misery on the American when he clawed back from triple break point down in the opening game of the third set.
Fritz clung on and even went up a break but was left smacking his racquet on to the court in frustration when he hit a volley into the net to let Sinner break back in the 10th.
Sinner broke for a sixth time in the contest to wrap up the win, with Fritz swiping a forehand into the net on match point.
With US great Andre Agassi on court for the presentation ceremony, Fritz told the crowd: “I know we’ve been waiting for a champion for a long time so I’m sorry I couldn’t get it done this time.
“But I’m gonna keep working and hopefully I’ll get it the next time.”
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Less than a week before competition began at Flushing Meadows, the world found out that Sinner had tested positive twice for anabolic steroids in March. He was cleared because his use was ruled unintentional – the banned substance entered his system via a massage from a team member he later fired.
Sinner recently fired his trainer and physiotherapist after he escaped a doping ban despite failing two drug tests in March.
The Italian tested positive for the steroid clostebol, which can be used to build muscle mass, after his physio Giacomo Naldi applied an over-the-counter spray to a cut on his own hand before carrying out treatments on Sinner.
The spray was given to Naldi by trainer Umberto Ferrara.
He was cleared of fault or negligence by a tribunal, accepting Sinner’s explanation he had inadvertently been contaminated with the substance by Naldi, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) said.
The positive doping tests came to light in the lead-up to the US Open, a day after the Italian won his fifth title of the year at the Cincinnati Open.
“They (Naldi and Ferrara) have been a huge part for my career,” Sinner said in a news conference before the US Open.
“We made an incredible job, bringing a lot of success and then having a great team behind me.
“Now, because of these mistakes, I’m not feeling that confident to continue with them. I was struggling a lot in the last months. I was waiting for the result. The only thing I need right now is some clean air.”
The soft sanctions for the 23-year-old, who has Australian Darren Cahill as one of his two coaches, created a storm considering other players who failed drugs tests usually get suspended during the course of the investigation.
© AAP