With a 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) victory over Felix Auger-Aliassime on Sunday, Jannik Sinner, the four-time Grand Slam champion, reclaimed his position at the top of the world rankings.
Also available to read: Sinner, Zverev, and Last Eight of the Paris Masters.
When the ATP rankings are updated on Monday, the 24-year-old will return to the pinnacle of men’s tennis in the wake of the current world number one Carlos Alcaraz of Spain’s crash out early in the tournament, where his maiden crown was held in Paris.
The Italian first climbed to the top of the rankings in June of last year, where he held it for 65 weeks before losing to Alcaraz in the US Open championship match in September.
After losing in a remarkable five-set final to Alcaraz earlier in the season, Sinner’s reign will taste even sweeter.
Sinner has now won five titles this year, including the Australian Open and Wimbledon, despite missing three months at the beginning of 2025 after twice testing positive for clostebol in March of last year.
However, it was his first 1, 000-level victory since Shanghai in October, with Sunday’s victory.
For ninth-seeded Canadian Auger-Aliassime, failing to pass the final setback in Paris-area prevented him from clinching a spot at the ATP Finals later this month.
However, Auger-Aliassime is the favorite to win the eighth and final spots in the season-ending competition after beating Lorenzo Musetti in the race to Turin.
The 25-year-old has experienced a renaissance in 2025 and reclaimed his place among the world’s top 10 despite being unable to add a fourth title to his list of accomplishments so far this season.
Power-Hitting
After dropping just one game in the semi-final match against third seed Alexander Zverev on Saturday, Sinner returned to where he left off by breaking Auger-Aliassime in the opening game to take the lead.
The Canadian forced Sinner to serve out the opening set, which he did in a typically effective manner, by refusing to let himself be cowed by the second seed’s power hitting from the baseline.
Both players’ only break point, which was a first set marked by impeccable serving, was converted by Sinner at the start of the match.
At the start of the second frame, Sinner forced a few break opportunities, but Auger-Aliassime made a huge first serve saver on each occasion.
As the number of winners grew, both men kept striking the ball clean.
In the seventh game, Sinner looked to have finally worn the Montreal-native down with his relentless pace and groundstrokes, but Auger-Aliassime exhibited grit to save three break points.
With the match now at 5-4, Auger-Aliassime made a sudden charge on Sinner’s serve, allowing the Canadian to force a decider to pass him by as the set rumbled toward a tie-break.
With a blistering backhand down the line on his first championship point, Sinner jumped out to win the tiebreaker with a score of 3-2 and never looked back.
Source: Channels TV
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