Jannik Sinner of San Candido, Italy won the 2023 Erste Bank Open in Vienna, Austria on Sunday. The fourth ranked player in the world beat the third ranked player in the world, Daniil Medvedev of Russia 7-6, 4-6, 6-3 in the final. In Austria this past week, Sinner and Medvedev were the top two seeds, as Medvedev was seeded first and Sinner was seeded second.
One major reason why Sinner was so effective was because of his accurate serve. Sinner had zero double faults, while Medvedev had eight double faults. Sinner also had a very impressive first serve percentage of 83%, and won 89% of the points on the second serve.
Medvedev was one of three seeded players Sinner beat in the Vienna Open. He also beat the seventh seed, Frances Tiafoe of the United States, 6-3, 6-4, in the quarterfinal, and the third seed, Andrey Rublev of Russia, 7-5, 7-6 in the semifinals.
Of Sinner’s four opponents during the week, three have made a grand slam semifinal in the past. Ben Shelton of the United States, who Sinner beat in the first round 7-6, 7-5, made the United States Open semifinal in 2023. Tiafoe reached the semifinals of the 2022 United States Open, while Medvedev won the 2021 United States Open.
Sinner, who reached the semifinals of Wimbledon himself in 2023, has now won 10 ATP titles. Three tournaments have come at the 500 level. Sinner also won the 2021 Washington Open, and the 2023 China Open. In Beijing earlier this moth, Sinner also beat Medvedev in the final by a score of 7-6, 7-6. While the tiebreak scores in the Beijing finals were 7-2 in each set, the first set tiebreak against Medvedev in Vienna was much closer, as Sinner won 9-7.
