Sinner seals US Open with straight-sets win over Fritz

Jannik Sinner let his tennis do the talking as he won the US Open for the first time. The world number one came into the tournament under a cloud following his anti-doping scandal, where he escaped a ban despite two positive tests in March.

- JONATHAN VEAL

Many people thought Sinner was lucky not to be suspended but he put all that to one side to claim a second grand slam title of the year by ending Taylor Fritz’s American dream in New York. The Italian, who beat Britain’s Jack Draper in the semi-final, won 6-3 6-4 7-5 to add this crown to the title he won in Australia. Fritz, backed by a partisan crowd on Arthur Ashe, was hoping to become the first American to win the men’s US Open title since Andy Roddick in 2003.

It was not a case of him freezing on the big stage of his first grand slam final, he just came up against an unstoppable force.

Sinner has denied any wrongdoing over his failed tests and was absolved of fault or negligence by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA). An independent tribunal accepted Sinner’s explanation that clostebol, an anabolic agent that can aid muscle growth, had accidentally entered his system via a product one of his team had used to treat a small wound.