Jannik Sinner revealed his primary focus was to hold on to his serve as he knew there would eventually be an opening on Maxime Cressy’s serve. In the Montpellier final, Sinner defeated big-serving Cressy 7-6 (3) 6-3 to win his seventh ATP title.
“To be honest, the first key was to hold the serve. In the tie-break I knew he may miss something. I tried to keep my serve, which I have done, so I am very happy about the first set. The second set was a little bit different.
I had a couple of good chances but he then served very well. I am very happy I broke him here and then I served very well at the end of match,” Sinner said after his win, per the ATP website.
How Sinner defeated Cressy?
Sinner entered the match hoping to get some chances on Cressy’s serve and he had two consecutive break points in the very first game of the match.
Unfortunately for Sinner, he didn’t realize those two early break point opportunities. After saving two early break points, Cressy had three consecutive break points on Sinner’s serve in the fourth game. Fortunately for Sinner, he was able to hold to his nerves and save the three consecutive break point chances.
In the rest of the first set, not a single break point was seen and a tie-break had to resolve the winner of the opener. Sinner got off to a stunning start to the tie-break, winning the first four points. For Cressy, there was no coming back from that deficit as a few points later Sinner realized his first set point to win the first set.
After winning a tight first set, Sinner earned the first break of the match in the eighth game of the second set for a 5-3 lead. In the ninth game, Sinner had no problems serving out for the match.
