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Jannik Sinner wins Citi Open to become youngest-ever ATP 500 winner

Jannik Sinner beat Mackie McDonald 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 to take the Citi Open title on Sunday in a three-hour long final encounter.

By Shayne Dias | Aug 9, 2021 | 2 Min Read

Jannik Sinner beat Mackie McDonald 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 to take the Citi Open title on Sunday in a three-hour long final encounter.

Sinner, who is 19 years old and will turn 20 on August 16, thus became the youngest ever winner of an ATP 500 event in history.

The youngest ATP 500 champion ever ??@janniksin #CitiOpen pic.twitter.com/20b3z1feQG

— ATP Tour (@atptour) August 9, 2021

However, the match was far from an easy one for the young Italian. He won the first set, but only after McDonald saved a mammoth 10 set points.

Sinner was then up 5-2 in the second set and on two championship points. This time, he failed to convert his massive advantage.

McDonald, having sensed an opening, fought back hard and won the second set. Even the third set could have gone either way.

But in the end, it was Sinner who ended the night holding the trophy aloft.

Don’t put much weight on age: Jannik Sinner

Sinner admitted he had to be patient and work hard to get a chance to secure the win. “When you’re up always with the score and then you cannot close it out, it’s not easy,” Sinner said.

“I tried to somehow stay calm and work for my chances.”

Teenagers had been 0-5 in ATP 500 finals since the category was created in 2009. However, Sinner himself admitted he didn’t focus much on the age side of things.

“When you see somebody is the youngest or whatever, I don’t put much weight on that,” Sinner said.

“You know, there are a lot of players who have done much, much better than me. It’s not about who is the youngest or whatever. I just want to improve, working hard.”

Indeed, McDonald made Sinner work very hard. The second set was the first that Sinner dropped in this tournament.

After the Italian went up a break early in the third, McDonald battled back. But Sinner broke McDonald’s serve again to end the match.

“I dug as deep as I could,” McDonald said afterwards. “Obviously, Jannik is a great young player and he pushed me really hard today, and I think I left it all out there.”