Men’s Preview: Sinner-Tiafoe Blockbuster Will Decide Cincy Champ

By Richard Osborn

[1] JANNIK SINNER (ITA) VS. FRANCES TIAFOE (USA)

6 P.M. | CENTER COURT

On paper, it’s been a tournament of upsets. 2023 finalist Carlos Alcaraz was bounced in the second round, a 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 loss at the hands of 37-year-old vet Gael Monfils, a defeat he would call the “worst match that I ever played in my career.” Seeds Daniil Medvedev, Casper Ruud, Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul, Grigor Dimitrov and Olympic bronze medalist Lorenzo Musetti were also among the early upset victims.

But here we are at the business end of the tournament, with top seed and world No. 1 Jannik Sinner still standing, still very much alive, into the fifth ATP Masters 1000 final of his career.

Sinner, who snatched his maiden Grand Slam title earlier this year at the Australian Open, only the second Italian man to win a major singles title in the Open Era, swept his first 16 matches of 2024, and rode that Melbourne momentum to three more titles in Rotterdam, Miami and Halle. But a bum hip seemed to limit his movement at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon, and he sat out the Paris Olympics with a case of tonsillitis.

Even in his semifinal 7-6(9), 5-7, 7-6(4) triumph over Alexander Zverev in Cincinnati, arguably the match of the tournament, he occasionally grasped his hip and grimaced. All of which makes his run this week more remarkable. He’s finding a way to win, even if he’s not 100 percent from a physical standpoint.

“It means a lot to me,” said Sinner, who celebrated his 23rd birthday on Friday. “It’s a very different moment, what I’m going through, so I’m very happy about this result. The physical aspect, of course, I have to improve if I want to win Grand Slams or bigger titles. I have to be, for sure, more in shape. But I’ve just tried to stay there mentally, and I’m really proud.”

Sinner’s opponent in Monday’s final, 26-year-old Frances Tiafoe, has been searching for consistency for much of the season. A semifinal finish last month on home turf in Washington seemed to get him back on track, and he’s again resembling the player who last year cracked the Top 10 in the ATP rankings. With a gutsy 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(4) comeback against Holger Rune in the semifinals, a match in which he erased a 2-5 third-set deficit and saved two match points, Tiafoe is into the biggest final of his career, the first American man to reach Cincinnati’s title tilt since John Isner back in 2013.

By booking the final, Tiafoe ensures that there will be five American men in the Top 20 for the first time since 1999: Tiafoe, Fritz, Paul, Ben Shelton and Sebastian Korda.

“He has found himself,” said Sinner. “Much, much better on the court. And he’s a great mover, huge serve. It’s going to be tough to play against him.”

Sinner holds a 3-1 edge in their career head-to-heads, with Tiafoe’s lone win coming in the Vienna semifinals in 2021, 3-6, 7-5, 6-2. But one gets the feeling that with this meeting, their first in a final, all past results get thrown out the window. This time, there’s a Masters 1000 trophy on the line.