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Second seed Jannik Sinner of Italy beat top seed and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz of Spain 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-1 to win the Croatia Open at Umag on Sunday. The match lasted for two hours and 25 minutes.
It was the sixth ATP title for the 20-year-old Italian, as he gave the Spaniard no respite in the last two sets. Alcaraz started as the slight favorite, but could not quite get his act together in the end.
On that note, we would take a look at three things which stood out in the match:
#1 Alcaraz wins a close first set by proving to be the better player in the tie-break
The first set was a hardfought one, with none of the players conceding a service break. As a result, the first set went into a tie-break and Alcaraz raced to a 4-1 lead. Sinner reduced the deficit to 5-6, but the Spaniard succeeded in converting the set point to draw first blood.
Both players hit quite a few fierce forehand winners in the first set. Alcaraz complemented his powerful groundstrokes with neatly-placed drop shots at times that helped him edge out the Italian.
#2 Sinner shows nerves of steel to come back from break points down in the 2nd set
Alcaraz held his serve in the first game of the second set and then had three break point opportunities in the subsequent game as Sinner trailed 0-40. However, the Italian managed to bounce back to win the game to level the score at 1-1. Sinner then went on to win five consecutive games to win the second set 6-1, breaking Alcaraz twice in the process.
Sinner kept approaching the net to finish points in the second set as well, as Alcaraz started committing unforced errors more often. The Italian also started landing his returns deep to put pressure on the Spaniard.
#3 Sinner puts up a brilliant serving display in the final set as Alcaraz wilts under pressure
Sinner then raced through the third set by breaking Alcaraz in the fourth and sixth games, never losing his own serve. Sinner’s dominance can be gauged by the fact that he won three of the six games in the third set to love.
The Italian continued to hit his returns deep in the third set as well, as Alcaraz wilted under pressure. The Spaniard’s tactic of playing drop shots backfired at times as Sinner often moved brilliantly to get to the ball.
Alcaraz could not break Sinner even once in the match, but was broken five times himself. The Spaniard could only win 44% and 54% of the points on his first and second serves, respectively, in the match.
