Fairy tale sinner in Sofia! First tournament won at 19 years and 2 months

At 19 years, 2 months and 29 days, Jannik Sinner becomes the youngest Italian to win an ATP title. South Tyrol beat Canadian Vasek Pospisil 6-4 3-6 7-6 (3) winning the first title of his career at the Sofia 250. A deserved success for South Tyrolean who certainly came under pressure, but at the same time handled in the best way a match against a more experienced opponent and gave an exceptional Sinner a hard time. For the celestial a black moment that coincided with the final stage of the second set and the first points of the third and decisive set. The sky-blue thus snatched a record from Claudio Pistolesi that had lasted more than 30 years, since on April 12, 1987 Pistolesi won the title in Bari with only 19 years, 7 months and 18 days.

Cousin set

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Sinner starts off loaded and determined and immediately gains two break points, moving Pospisil very well and sinking with the forehand. The Canadian cancels them with the serve, but offers a third to Sinner who, however, fails to materialize. Pospisil takes seven very long minutes to endure a very hard first turn. From long exchanges, not even the shadow. With a couple of very strong firsts, Sinner maintains his first service time at 15. The celeste is very reactive in response, he puts pressure on his opponent and once again the game ends with the advantages. With a magic fastball on the fast break line, Sinner clears the ball for Pospisil and then wins the first long exchange of the game by taking the fourth break point of the game. The South Tyrolean takes out all the heavy artillery to break through and with an anomalous forehand on the line wins the break 2-1. A double fault makes Sinner shake and in the fourth game he concedes the first break point of the match. However, he cancels it and then goes up 3-1 holding on to the first winners. Pospisil makes it easy for 3-2, Sinner opens the sixth game winning a very long exchange, before committing the second double fault of the match. But even here he redeems the double error with a great first in the center, holds, continues to be forced to the advantages but closes for 4-2 thanks to the backhand response buried by Pospisil. Blue handles the first serve very well, then commits the third double fault and with the error on the right allows Pospisil to take advantage. But with two explosive forehand blows Blue goes up 5-3. And at 5-4 Sinner has a game by dint of winning first, conquering a first set played with attention and intelligence.

Second game

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At the start of the second set, a delicious break ball arrives for Sinner. And the blue does not miss the opportunity, breaking through with a crossed forehand. The South Tyrolean first pass comes in the second game in which he misses three shots off serve and then returns the break advantage to the equal one. With 8 points in a row Pospisil advances 2-1, then the series is interrupted with a first winner by Sinner who holds for 2 all, but then Blue suffers a second negative set and a second break that the Canadian leads 4-2. Betraying are the first and the first shots out of the service. Pospisil is master of the field and agile climbs up to 5-2. Sinner now travels only with the position lights, his tennis seems to go off and only with the teeth he climbs to 5-3. But with two final aces, Pospisil takes home the second fraction 6-3 and for Sinner everything has to be redone.

Terze set

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Sinner keeps making a lot of mistakes even at the beginning of the third set. There are immediately two break points for the Canadian, but Sinner maintains a tough trade from below by canceling the first and then with a first winner canceling the second chance. Then he clings to the serve and endures a very important game showing signs of rebirth. Sinner’s fourth double fault comes on par, slipping below 15-30, and it’s again the serve that bails him out for 2-1. Every turn is decisive and Sinner holds up well for 3-2 with a right passer recovering from a Pospisil balloon. Blue is valid for 4-3, but Canadian is no less for all 4. On the referee’s rule in the first point of the ninth game that favors our Sinner who was called a winning shot. Sinner goes up 5-4 sending Pospisil to serve to stay in the game. Sinner comes within three points of victory, but the Canadian has 5 points with the blue straight stick. Sinner believes it, goes up 6-5 and Pospisil serves for the second time to stay in the game. The Canadian goes 30-0, then double faults and only lands a forehand for 30 all. With a valuable forehand volley, Pospisil reaches the ball that is worth the tie break that is transformed with an unreachable right hand. The tie break opens with a long exchange won by Sinner, but two firsts by Pospisil reverse the situation. Sinner’s backhand is worth 2 in total, the first to go 3-2. With a very good backhand response, Sinner puts Pospisil in difficulty and advances the field 4-2 with the first mini break. With a second hard work, Sinner raises 5-3, holds the mini break and then closes a phenomenal straight cross for 6-3 and the triple match point. The first is enough: the reverse side of Pospisil is long and Sinner flies to the sky.

Italian winners

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For Italy it is the 68th ATP title in history, the first since Lorenzo Sonego’s success in Antalya in June 2019. Sinner at last year’s Next Gen Finals when in Milan he beat Australian Alex De Miñaur in the final by 4 – 2 4-1 4-2. As of tomorrow Sinner is number 37 in the world. A dizzying rise if one takes into account that South Tyrol had closed 2018 at number 763 in the world and 2019 at number 78.