World number one Jannik Sinner wins the US Open against Taylor Fritz, extending his dry spell in the Grand Slam singles in American men’s tennis.

CNN
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World number one Jannik Sinner won his second Grand Slam singles title by defeating American Taylor Fritz 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 at the US Open at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Sunday.

Fritz, ranked No. 12 in the world, was bidding to become the first American in 21 years to win a Grand Slam singles title. Andy Roddick, who was in attendance Sunday, is the last American to do so when he won the U.S. Open in 2003.

Sinner, 23, won the Australian Open in January after winning 11 consecutive matches. He is the only Italian singles champion in US Open tournament history alongside Flavia Pennetta, who won the women’s singles championship in 2015.

Fritz is the first American to reach a Grand Slam singles final since Roddick finished runner-up to Roger Federer at Wimbledon in 2009. Roddick was the last American to reach the US Open singles final, losing to Federer in 2006.

An American was already assured of reaching the final when Fritz and No. 20 Frances Tiafoe faced each other in the semifinals, with Fritz recovering from a 2-1 set deficit in that match.

Previously, Fritz’s best result at a major was reaching the quarterfinals, where the 26-year-old had a record of 0-4 at the time.

Sinner’s triumph comes against the backdrop of his recent doping case, which became public on August 20 – news that shocked the tennis world.

Sinner, who avoided suspension after testing positive twice for traces of the banned substance clostebol, said he had done nothing wrong. It was ruled that Sinner bore “no fault or negligence”. Sinner said the positive tests were due to “accidental contamination” from treatment by his then-physiotherapist.

This is the first year since 2002 that none of the members of men’s tennis’s “Big Three” – Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and the now-retired Federer – won a Grand Slam. Instead, Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz shared the majors, with the Spaniard winning the French Open and Wimbledon.

At this year’s US Open, Djokovic surprisingly lost to Alexei Popyrin in the third round, while Nadal did not play.

The rich and famous regularly flock to the US Open, and Sunday was no exception. In attendance were Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce – who sat next to Patrick and Brittany Mahomes. Also in attendance were Matthew McConaughey, Martha Stewart, Noah Lyles and Elon Musk.