Djokovic didn’t face a break point through the first six service games, and twice held at love. With Sinner serving at 4-5, it was Djokovic who went up 0-30, with a backhand pass at Sinner’s feet, and a dazzling series of forehands that had the pro-Djoker crowd roaring. But Sinner, as he tends to do these days, calmly shut the door on that opening, with two service winners and a brilliant forehand-overhead combination.
Sinner carried that momentum into the first-set tiebreaker. He started with a backhand pass, an ace, and a winning forehand down the line to go up 3-0. Djokovic again fought back, and he had an easy backhand volley to make the score 4-5. Except he hit that easy backhand volley into the net, and the score was 3-6 instead. Djokovic flashed a rueful smile as he walked back to the baseline. Tennis can humble even the best ever to do it.
With the first set in hand, it didn’t take long for Sinner to separate himself from Djokovic in the second. Again it was a backhand volley miss that spelled the Serb’s doom. Serving at 1-2, 15-30, he put another one into the net to give Sinner his first break points of the afternoon. Two points later, Sinner essentially sealed the title by rocketing a forehand into the corner for a winner, and a service break. Djokovic gave him all he had in that point, and Sinner came back with something better.
