Jannik Sinner becomes first Italian to win Halle Open

Jannik Sinner (YouTube)

Jannik Sinner of Italy, the world number one, has won the 2024 Halle Open. As a result, he becomes the first Italian singles player ever to win the ATP 500 grass court tournament based in Germany. In the final, Sinner defeated Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz 7-6, 7-6. He won the first set 10-8 in a tiebreak, and the second set 7-2 in a tiebreak. Hurkacz, the fifth seed, and 2021 Wimbledon semifinalist, was the only seeded player in the tournament that Sinner defeated.

In additon to beating Hurkacz, Sinner beat Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands 6-7, 6-3, 6-2 in the first round, Fabian Marozsan of Hungary 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 in the second round, Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany 6-2, 6-7, 7-6 in the quarterfinals. and to Zhizhen Zhang of China 6-4, 7-6 in the semifinals. It is interesting that Sinner won the tournament despite losing three sets to unseeded players in a tiebreak along the way.

For the first time Italians won the doubles final in Halle as well. In the final, Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori defeated Kevin Krawietz and Tim Putz of Germany 7-6, 7-6. This was the third time that players from the same nation won the singles and doubles final in Halle. In 2005, Roger Federer of Switzerland won the men’s singles tournament with a final win over Marat Safin of Russia, 6-4, 6-7, 6-4. Federer then teamed up with Yves Allegro of Switzerland to beat Joachim Johansson of Sweden 7-5, 6-7, 6-3 in the 2005 men’s doubles final. Then in 2009, Tommy Haas of Germany defeated Novak Djokovic of Serbia 6-3, 6-7, 6-1 in the men’s singles final. Then in the 2009 Halle men’s doubles final, Philipp Kohlschreiber and Christopher Kas of Germany defeated Andreas Beck of Germany and Marco Chiudinelli of Switzerland, 6-3, 6-4.

For Sinner, this was his 14th ATP title, and fourth win in 2024. He previously won the Australian Open, Rotterdam Open and Miami Open.