Milan (AFP)
Benjamin of the tournament, present in Milan on invitation, the Italian Jannik Sinner won on Saturday the third edition of Next Gen Masters, reserved for under 21 years, crushing in the final the Australian Alex De Minaur 4-2, 4-1 , 4-2.
In front of a public acquainted with his cause, Sinner, 18 years old and 95th world, left no chance to Alex De Minaur, nevertheless better classified (18th) and already finalist last year. Sinner joins the winners of this tournament, created in 2017, his first winner, the South Korean Chung Hyeon, and the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, titled last year.
"I do not have too many words," responded Sinner, questioned just after his victory. "I still wanted to thank my team for the work we have done and we will obviously continue to do.Thanks also to the organization.Thank you especially for the wild-card (laughs) Without this invitation, I do not I would not be here, thank you all and hope that I will be here next year. "
This unquestionable victory ends a dream week for Sinner, who had already beaten three players ranked higher than him since Tuesday: American Frances Tiafoe and Sweden's Mikael Ymer in the group stage and Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic in the semifinals.
He finished in the best way a season that saw him explode at the high level, he who was still 553rd in the world in January and is now the youngest player in the current top 100.
In mid-October, he became the youngest semifinalist of a grand tour tournament since Borna Coric in 2014.
© 2019 AFP