The young Italian Jannik Sinner, fifth seed, made good the predictions by winning this Sunday 7-5, 4-6 and 7-5 American Mackienze McDonald in the final of the ATP 500 series in Washington.
The new tournament champion took a prize money of $ 350,755 and 500 points for the ATP ranking, where as of Monday it will occupy the fifteenth position with 2,780 points.
While McDonald, who made his first ATP Tour final, received a cash prize of $ 178,500 and 300 points.
Sinner, 19, claimed his second professional title this season after taking his first in Melbourne, and the third title of his career.
Sinner’s rival, McDonald, 26, world number 107, who had been the surprise after eliminating former tournament champion Kei Nishikori in the semifinals, failed to achieve the dream of securing his first ATP title in what was also his first final.
McDonald, despite being eliminated in what was the first duel between both players in the ATP, he was always involved in the game although Sinner always kept control with the “breaks” and the nine “aces” that he placed with his serve.
Sinner, who from the start of the game outpointed McDonald with the decisive blows, he got a 3-1 run in just 15 minutes into the game.
But McDonald, with an excellent rest, broke serve in the next game, taking advantage of Sinner’s second serve, which was his Achilles heel.
However, what the American tennis player achieved was pure mirage, which did not last more than until the next game, the sixth, when the young Italian tennis player recovered it with four goals in a row for the 4-2 run.
But when everything seemed easy for Sinner, the Italian player, suffered with his serve and both opponents broke it twice until the tenth game.
Sinner had up to six set balls in the tenth game, but could not assure it and lasted until the twelfth, when he made the third “break” of the set for 7-5 after one hour and seven minutes of the game.
In the second set both players kept their serve until in the seventh McDonald with a “break” reached 3-4, enough to get the sleeve and take the game to the decisive third.
That could not start better for Sinner to get the “break” in the second game, although in the ninth McDonald He returned it for the partial 5-4, which put him back in the game.
However, in the end, the young Italian was the best on the Stadium court in the capital, and responded with the second “break” of the third set in the twelfth game. as had happened in the first and ensured the victory in the third match point, which ended after two hours and 53 minutes.
The great attraction of the tournament for this year’s edition was the presence of former world number one Rafael Nadal, first seed, who made his debut in the tournament, after accepting the invitation.
But it also became the big disappointment after be eliminated in the third round by young South African Lloyd Harris, 24, fourteenth seeded, who beat it 6-4, 1-6 and 6-4.
The favorites were also eliminated, the Australian Nick Kyrgios, who defended the champion title and lost in the first round against McDonald by 6-4 and 6-4; and in the second, the young Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, second seed, who was defeated 6-3, 6-4 by the young American promise Jenson Brooksby, 20, who later lost to Sinner, in the semifinals.