Sinner Winner: Italian youngster tops de Minaur in NBO Toronto final

Jannik Sinner of Italy holds a trophy after beating Alex de Minaur of Australia to win the men's final of the National Bank Open in Toronto on Sunday, Aug. 13, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn

TORONTO -

Italy's Jannik Sinner defeated Australia's Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-1 on Sunday to win the National Bank Open for his first career Masters 1000 series title.

The seventh-seeded Sinner used his punishing ground strokes to great effect, forcing his unseeded opponent to play defence for most of the match at Sobeys Stadium.

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Sinner closed out the opening set with a service break and kept the pressure on in the second set to close out the win in 89 minutes.

"Every opponent here is tough to play against," Sinner said. "I felt the pressure, but I think I handled it very well."

It was his second ATP Tour title of the season.

Sinner improved to 5-0 in head-to-head matchups against de Minaur, who made his first career Masters 1000 final appearance.

Sinner was the first Italian to reach the men's singles final of this tournament in the Open era. The 21-year-old right-hander will jump two positions to a career-high No. 6 in the new world rankings.

Earlier Sunday, El Salvador's Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands won the doubles title with a 6-3, 6-1 win over the third-seeded team of American Rajeev Ram and Britain's Joe Salisbury.

Sinner earned US$1.02 million of the $7.62-million overall purse with the victory. De Minaur, the world No. 18, banked almost $557,000 for the runner-up finish.

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"It was a breakthrough week for me," De Minaur said. "I had a nice week here in Toronto. I played some great tennis and it gave me a taste of it.

"My maiden final and I will be back."

Arevalo and Rojer, who split about $312,000 for their win, beat de Minaur and Sinner in the first round of the doubles draw.

Jannik Sinner of Italy celebrates winning his first set against Alex de Minaur of Australia during the men's final National Bank Open tennis action, in Toronto, Sunday, Aug. 13, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn

The WTA Tour will return to the York University venue next season. The men and women alternate between Montreal and Toronto each year.

The 2024 competition will be the last year that the 56-player main draw format is used. The tournament will expand to a 12-day, 96-player format starting in 2025.

Tournament director Karl Hale said next year's schedule will be slightly different since the Paris Olympics are on the calendar.

Tennis will be played at the Summer Games from July 27-Aug. 4. The main draw of the Toronto event is scheduled to start on Aug. 6 -- a Tuesday -- and continue to a Monday night finish on Aug. 13.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 13, 2023.

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