Jannik Sinner wins US Open, extends US Grand Slam drought

Italy's Jannik Sinner was in complete control Sunday, winning the US Open men's singles title with a 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 victory over American No. 12 seed Taylor Fritz in New York.

It was Sinner's second Grand Slam title of the year after he took the Australian Open in January. The World No. 1 also extended the United States' drought in Grand Slam events.

In addition to winning the first two Grand Slam titles of his career this year, the 23-year-old Sinner reached the semifinals at the French Open.

Sinner has now won 11 consecutive matches and is 55-5 in 2024 with six tournament titles.

"So many big wins for me this season, starting off with Australia," Sinner said after the match. "Playing so well there gave me confidence. The work never stops. I know I can still improve, as we saw today, a couple of things. But you have to be proud with what you have and the rest you have to work for it. I can't wait for my continued process."

The win also comes about three weeks after it was announced that Sinner tested positive for a banned steroid back in March, but would not be suspended because an independent tribunal determined he did not knowingly ingest it.

"This title, for me, means so much," Sinner said, "because the last period of my career was really not easy."

The last American man to win a major title was Andy Roddick in the 2003 US Open. Before Fritz, the last to play in a Grand Slam final was Roddick in 2009 against Roger Federer at Wimbledon.

"Being an American at the US Open is just incredible. Feeling the love all week, so thank you so much," 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 going to keep working and, hopefully, I'll get it the next time."

Fritz, 26, advanced past the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for the first time before defeating fellow American Frances Tiafoe in the semifinals to make it this far.

"I played very within myself," Fritz said. "I don't think I at any point I was, like, ‘Wow, I'm playing incredible' or ‘I'm playing out of my mind.' That's just extremely reassuring to me that I was able to get to this point, just playing solid tennis."

Sinner set the tone early when he broke Fritz's serve on the opening game of the match. Fritz got even, though, when he broke back at 2-2. But Sinner went on to win the final four games of the first set.

Sinner broke Fritz's serve again to finish off the second set.

Fritz made his push in the third set, breaking Sinner's serve to take a 4-3 lead. Sinner fell behind 5-3 but soon broke back to even the match 5-5 and once more broke Fritz to finish off the third set and take the championship.

Fritz had 10 aces to six for Sinner, but the champion won 38 of his 43 first-service points (88.4 percent) to 36 of 53 (68.0 percent) for his opponent. Sinner also saved five of seven break points.

Sinner dedicated the title to his ailing aunt.

"I don't know how much I still have her in my life," Sinner said. "It's so nice that I can share positive moments still with her. She was a very important person for my life and she still is." —Field Level Media/Reuters