Riding on the wave of his recent Grand Slam victory, Jannik Sinner has won his second title of the season after beating Alex de Minaur at the final of the Rotterdam Open. The 22-year-old capitalised on the errors of his opponents to win the game of two sets 7-5 6-4. The victory will see Sinner rise to a career-high of world number three, the first for an Italian. 

Sinner’s streak has been in motion since the end of last year, when he led team Italy to victory at the Davis Cup. Defeating Novak Djokovic on his way to the final in Australia will be one of the highlights of his career so far. On Sunday, it was no different for Sinner who has now become accustomed to victories as he claimed his 12th career title. 

The actual match was quite intense, with Sinner having the upper hand, particularly in the first set. But a failure of Sinner to serve saw de Minaur save four set points, bringing him level with the Italian. Whatever De Minaur may have gained did not last as Sinner broke back in the next game, eventually outplaying the Australian for the rest of the set to win it. The second set followed a similar routine, but this time it was increasingly difficult for De Minaur to keep up with his younger opponent who was now more careful not to repeat the mistakes he made in the first set. 

Sinner has now fully established himself as one of the men that will define the 2024 ATP season. The victory at Rotterdam is his third consecutive ATP title, following victories at Beijing and Vienna towards the end of last season. His only recent loss was at the final of the ATP Tour Final, where he lost to Djokovic. 

The youngster has shown no sign of slowing down, and there is no telling where the rest of the season might take him. Maybe another Grand Slam title or a stint as World number one are among the things we would see him do this season? We would be on the lookout for that.

Leon Osamor