There won’t be an American winner in singles competition at the 2024 US Open. Home favorite Taylor Fritz made it all the way to the final, but he ran up against top seed Jannik Sinner and ultimately fell to the Italian on Sunday. Sinner won the match in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5.
Sinner’s victory over Fritz, the 12th seed, took three sets and means Andy Roddick remains the last American man to win the tournament. Roddick won the US Open in 2003, and was the last American man to make a Grand Slam final (Wimbledon, 2009) before Fritz bested his countryman Frances Tiafoe in the semifinals.
But Sinner didn’t allow Fritz to get further than that, securing his second ever Grand Slam championship overall and this year. Sinner had fewer unforced errors (21 vs. 34), won 88 percent of his first serves, and converted on six of his 12 break attempts. He was sharper and cleaner than Fritz throughout the match and took him down in straight sets.
Sinner earned his first Grand Slam title at the beginning of this season when he defeated Daniil Medvedev in the final of the Australian Open. The 23-year-old Italian holds the No. 1 ranking in the world, though this is his first final since Australia, as he made it as far as the semifinal at Roland Garros and the quarterfinals at Wimbledon.
It’s been a real rough couple of months for Sinner off the court, starting with missing the Paris Olympics with tonsillitis. He also received an anti-doping sanction from the ITIA for testing positive for Clostebol, a banned anabolic steroid. He was ultimately cleared from wrongdoing, but people were talking more about that and less about his play going into the US Open.
In his semifinal matchup, Sinner took down Jack Draper of England, the No. 25 seed for the tournament. Sinner had to get a wrist injury worked on during that match, but he ultimately came out on top in straight sets, 7-5, 7-6(3), 6-2. His run to the final also included wins over No. 14 Tommy Paul in the fourth round and the fifth-seeded Medvedev in the quarterfinals.
Fritz, 26, has been the top American men’s tennis player for the last few years, but he’s struggled to break through. He’s been in a very similar place as his friend and semifinal opponent, Frances Tiafoe. The two Americans went a full five sets in their semifinal match, with Fritz ultimately earning the victory, 4-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.
In addition to making the final here, Fritz has made it to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and Wimbledon, with a fourth-round finish at the French Open — all this season.
Getting to this point has been tough for Fritz, the 12th seed. He ran into the eighth-seeded Casper Ruud in the fourth round, and was pushed to four sets before getting a win. It only got harder from there though, as the fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev was his next opponent in the quarterfinals. Fritz took him down, also in four sets, before his match against Tiafoe, the 20th seed.
