Competing in his first major final, Fritz was enjoying his best-ever run at a Grand Slam tournament, scoring four-set victories over No. 8 seed Casper Ruud and No. 4 seed Alexander Zverev before rallying from two-set-to-one down against fellow American Frances Tiafoe, delivering a 6-1 fifth set win on Friday night.

A streaking Sinner would prove to be a much tougher challenge as the top seed arrived in New York firmly atop the ATP rankings and as the most recent Masters 1000 winner at the Cincinnati Open. Shaking off the surprise revelation that he had tested positive (but bore No Fault or Negligence) for the banned substance clostebol, Sinner—the self-described “simple tennis player”—went about his work over the last two weeks in efficient fashion, dropping just two sets all tournament.

After overcoming an ailing Jack Draper in the semifinals, Sinner looked to flip a 1-1 head-to-head with the American in his favor, having won their most recent meeting at the 2023 BNP Paribas Open in three sets.

Fritz’s quest to fill the proverbial blank space and end the Slamless era for American men, who have not won a singles major anywhere since Roddick’s 2003 win, began ominously. The 26-year-old missed an overhead to lose serve in the opening game. Though he reeled off three straight games to reclaim the break, Fritz was undone by Sinner’s more consistent ballstriking and lost the next four games to fall behind by a set.

Both men looked settled as the second set got underway, trading service holds through the first nine games, Sinner outrallying the more offense-minded Fritz to put himself a game from a two-set lead. Under pressure from serving second, Fritz netted a backhand to hand Sinner two set points. Sinner only needed one, stepping back on the return and nailing a backhand down the line to close in on his second major title.

Fritz made a bold start to the third, opening up a 0-40 lead on Sinner’s serve. Sinner swept the next five points, holding after following a 128-mile-per-hour first serve to net. Fritz survived a 21-shot rally to save a second break point in the sixth game, lighting up the star-studded crowd by holding serve from 15-40 down.

He maintained that momentum into the next game, getting two more chances to break thanks to some impressive plays at net. Sinner blinked and threw in a double fault for the break; Fritz responded with an ace to consolidate, putting himself on the brink of a fourth set.

As the match passed the two-hour mark, Sinner quickly countered, breaking Fritz as he served for the set. Up break point, the Italian drew him to net with a drop shot and forced a volley error that had the American tossing his racquet in disgust. Sinner won a third straight game to move within a game of the finish line.

Fritz tried to push the set towards a tiebreaker but Sinner earned two championship points when Fritz missed badly off a forehand putaway. One last long rally went Sinner’s way and the world No. 1 claimed his second major title in just over two hours.

Sinner, who became the first player to qualify for the 2024 ATP Finals, improved to 55-5 this season—two of those losses coming to Carlos Alcaraz—and 35-2 on hard courts.