Italian teenager Jannik Sinner has jumped nine spots to a career-high No 15 in the ATP rankings after he captured the Citi Open title in Washington; the 19-year-old is the youngest ATP 500 champion since the category was created in 2009, with no other teen lifting a trophy at this level
Tuesday 10 August 2021 11:10, UK
Jannik Sinner has jumped nine spots to a career-high No 15 after capturing the Citi Open in Washington, but the Italian teenager says there is "still much work to do".
Sinner, 19, outlasted home favourite Mackenzie McDonald in a gruelling three sets to become the youngest ATP 500 champion since the category was created in 2009.
The Italian entered the final without dropping a single set, but came up against a determined opponent in McDonald who was eager to claim his first ATP Tour title.
The American saved 10 set points in the first set and 16 break points in the match, but ultimately it was Sinner who came through 7-5 4-6 7-5 to become the third-youngest champion in tournament history behind Andy Roddick (2001) and Juan Martin del Potro (2008).
"I think there is still much work to do, to be honest. A lot of experience to put in, working hard as we are doing now, and trying to play important matches and important moments of a match," Sinner said. "Today I think I had a lot of them. I can learn many things [from] today.
"When you see somebody is the youngest or whatever, I don't put much weight on that. There are a lot of players who have done much, much better than me," Sinner added. "It's not about who is the youngest or whatever. I just want to improve, work hard."
Germany's Andrea Petkovic won her first WTA singles title in six years with a straight-sets victory over Mayar Sherif at the inaugural Winners Open in Romania.
It was third time lucky for the former world No 9 this season after coming up short having reached the final in two of her last three events.
"I feel so happy. It feels much longer than six years, because so many things happened in the six years," said Petkovic after her 6-1 6-1 victory over the first Egyptian woman to reach a WTA singles final.
"I was ready to retire, I almost did retire, I started five new jobs. Now being back to what I love most, tennis, and winning at it, is just the best feeling."
Meanwhile, American Danielle Collins held off Russia's Daria Kasatkina in three sets to win the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose.
Collins cruised to the first set 6-3 before Kasatkina rallied to take the second 7-6 (10).
But her fightback ultimately fell short, with last year's French Open quarter-finalist Collins winning the third set 6-1 to claim her second consecutive WTA singles title following success at the Palermo Open in July.
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