ATP Finals - Tennis - TNT Sports

SINNER DOWNS ALCARAZ TO CLAIM BACK-TO-BACK ATP FINALS TITLES

Jannik Sinner retained the Nitto ATP Finals title with a hard-fought victory over Year-End No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz in Turin.

The Italian delighted the home supporters as he thwarted the top seed’s bid to win the tournament for the first time courtesy of a 7-6(4) 7-5 success in two hours and 15 minutes.

It sees the second seed extend his winning streak indoors to 31 matches and reduces Alcaraz’s lead in the head-to-head to 10-6 moving towards 2026.

Speaking on court in the immediate aftermath of his triumph, Sinner said: "We are individual athletes obviously, but at the same time, without a team this is not possible and celebrating this trophy at the end of the year, after such an intense last couple of months, there is no better ending for me.

"It was a tough and very, very close match-up. You know, set point in the first set [to Alcaraz], but I’m extremely happy with how I handled the situation and it means the world to me."

He added: "It was tough, playing against Carlos, you have to play at your best.

"I was serving very well at times, but he is one of the best returners - if not the best returner in the game. Obviously Novak [Djokovic] is in there, but you know, I’m very happy.

"It was a very tough match but it means a lot to me ending the season like this. It’s amazing."

The first final at the Nitto ATP Finals to feature the world No. 1 and world No. 2 since 2016 was a slow-burner in comparison to some of the previous iterations of this spectacular match-up.

Indeed, neither player blinked on serve until Sinner was forced to save the first break point of the contest in the 11th game.

It proved pivotal as the Italian led the way in the ensuing tie-break before sealing it 7-4 with the aid of a sublime cross-court lob.

The reigning champion had not dropped serve all week but threw in two double faults and a wild forehand miss to allow Alcaraz to make the early breakthrough in the second set.

Sinner responded and broke back to level at 3-3 thanks to a fortuitous, shanked return and a devilish drop shot.

The Italian applied the squeeze on the scoreboard and broke as Alcaraz served to stay in it at 6-5 to clinch victory on a first match point and became the youngest man to defend the title since a 23-year-old Roger Federer in 2004.

BREAK! – ALCARAZ 6-7 3-3 SINNER

The hamstring issue is making Alcaraz play aggressive, heavy-hitting tennis which is making him very dangerous, but also contains high risk.

A barrage of blockbusting forehands put him in control at 30-15 but he drags wide on a serve and volley tactic before booming another forehand long.

Sinner has break back point and after somehow landing a shanked return he takes charge and catches Alcaraz cold with a supreme crosscourt dropper.

All square!

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