Sinner, 17th in the world, dominated Cressy (51st) 7-6 (7/3), 6-3. Thanks to this victory, the former number 9 will rise to 14th place in the ATP rankings on Monday, while the American, ex 31st, will return to the Top 40. At 21, Sinner has already played in the quarter-finals of the four Grand Slams, including last year at Wimbledon (loss to future champion Djokovic after leading 2 sets to 0) and the US Open (loss to future champion Carlos Alcaraz after having match point).
And in Montpellier, he confirmed that he intended to be one of the players for the season again. “To be honest, the first key to the match was to hold my face-off,” commented Sinner, who said he was “very happy” with the way he played the first set. “The second set was a bit different because I had some good chances, but it served very well. So I’m very happy to have made the break and then served very well to end the match” , he added.
A single station wagon
Because in one week and five matches, Cressy has only given up his face-off once… the one he shouldn’t have: the American giant (2.01m), who plays serve and volley, was breaker in the eighth game of the second inning on Sunday, leaving Sinner to serve for the match.
But the Italian himself was intractable on his own service throughout the game, so he did not miss the opportunity. Especially since Cressy fought the whole game against pain caused by cracks in the fingers of his right hand which prevented him from holding his racket properly. “I congratulate Jannik for this week… he only played three matches, but he played at an incredible level”, underlined the American in reference to the truncated course of his opponent.
Cressy will have to wait
Seeded number 2, the Italian was indeed exempted from the first round and then benefited from the withdrawal of Hungarian Marton Fucsovics (69th) in the round of 16, before getting rid of Lorenzo Sonego (56th) in the quarters then the French revelation Arthur Fils (163rd) in half.
The final promised to be more complicated against the Danish scorer Holger Rune (9th) after a breathtaking half. But Cressy didn’t really know how to stand up to Sinner and therefore bowed out. At 25, he still has only one ATP tournament on his record (Newport 2022). Cressy had a second chance to lift a trophy in Montpellier, as he continued with the doubles final associated with Frenchman Albano Olivetti against the Dutch Robin Haase and Matwe Middelkoop.