Sinner fights back against Zverev to win Vienna crown

VIENNA: Jannik Sinner clinched his fourth title of the season on Sunday as the Italian rallied from a set down to beat Alexander Zverev in the final of the Vienna Open.

Sinner dropped his first set of the tournament before staging a comeback to see off Zverev 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 to land the 22nd title of his career.

It is his second triumph in Vienna, where he also lifted the trophy in 2023, and extended his winning run on indoor hard courts to 21 matches going into next week’s final Masters 1000 of the year in Paris.

But the top seed had to do it the hard way after falling behind as world No. 3 Zverev, who had won four of seven previous meetings, secured the only break of the first set to take the upper hand.

Sinner replied by racing 3-0 ahead in the second set as he forced a decider against the 2021 champion.

Zverev saved two break points in the fifth game of the third set but Sinner maintained the pressure despite battling a thigh issue in his first event since retiring with cramp at the Shanghai Masters.

Sinner created another opportunity at 5-all with a blistering backhand down the line and won a lengthy rally the following point to snatch the key break.

A routine hold wrapped up victory for the 24-year-old who has reached the final in eight of his 10 tournaments this season, with Sinner adding to his titles at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and Beijing.

Meanwhile, Belinda Bencic said she surprised even herself by winning a second title of the season in Tokyo on Sunday, a year after returning to tennis from having a baby.

The Swiss beat the Czech Republic’s Linda Noskova 6-2, 6-3 in the Pan Pacific Open final, following up her success at the Abu Dhabi Open in February.

Bencic gave birth to a daughter in April