UMAG/STARNBERG, August 1, 2022

Jannik Sinner clinched the title of the Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag. The second seed of the ATP 250 clay-court tournament in Istria rallied from a set down to outlast top-seeded Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-1 in Sunday’s singles final.

In front of packed stands and under the lights on ATP Stadium Goran Ivanisevic, Sinner sent down six aces and won 77 per cent of his first-service points. The 20-year-old Italian saved all nine break points he faced and capitalized on five of his own nine break-point chances to prevail after two hours and 25 minutes.

First on clay 👏

The moment @janniksin defeated Alcaraz to win his 6th ATP title!#CroatiaOpenUmag pic.twitter.com/FFqJatnyga

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) July 31, 2022

“I am obviously very happy,” said Sinner after the match. “I have [had] a tough year until now, I had some unfortunate moments, but we worked every time to play better, to be a better player, to be a better person. So, I’m very happy to be finally lifting a trophy this year, but I know that I still have a lot of things to improve… It’s all about the process.”

The victory was Sinner’s second against Alcaraz in four weeks, after the South Tyrolean was a four-set winner in the pair’s fourth-round clash at Wimbledon. Sinner’s triumph in Umag is the World No. 10’s sixth ATP Tour career title. He earned €81,310 in prize money as well as 250 ATP Ranking points.

It was Alcaraz’s second championship match loss in as many weeks after he fell to Lorenzo Musetti at the Hamburg European Open the week before. Despite the disappointment of defeat, the Spanish teenager’s run in Umag this week to a Tour-leading sixth final of the year has lifted him above Stefanos Tsitsipas to a career-high World No. 4 in the ATP Rankings.