In a remarkable feat, Jannik Sinner etched his name in history books as the first Italian male player in the Open Era (since 1968) to achieve an impressive 55 wins in a single season. This milestone was attained during his journey to the Erste Bank Open final.
The 22-year-old displayed an aggressive style of play, prevailing over Andrey Rublev with a scoreline of 7-5, 7-6(5) in Vienna. Sinner’s victory not only marked his 55th triumph of 2023 but also surpassed Corrado Barazzutti’s previous record of 54 wins in 1978.
Throughout the one-hour, 52-minute showdown against Rublev, Sinner exhibited front-foot tennis, delivering a total of 26 winners, which included 10 powerful aces. Even after a slight hiccup when he failed to serve out the match at 5-4 in the second set, Sinner rallied with enhanced depth and strength, clinching the tie-break.
This win not only elevated Sinner’s head-to-head series record against Rublev to 4-2 but also put an end to Rublev’s perfect record in tour-level semi-finals for 2023, where he stood at an impressive 6-0 before facing Sinner. The Italian tennis sensation, who secured a spot at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin after a successful qualification earlier this month, has now advanced to his sixth final of the season and 13th overall.
In the title match, the second-seeded Sinner is set to face off against Daniil Medvedev, aiming for his fourth crown of the year. Earlier in the season, Sinner clinched victories in Montpellier and Beijing, and also secured his inaugural ATP Masters 1000 title in Toronto.
While Rublev had previously tasted victory in Vienna in 2020, claiming the title at this hard-court event, the World No. 5, who will join Sinner in Turin for the prestigious year-end event, was vying for his sixth trophy at ATP 500 level.
