Frances Tiafoe says what is so ‘underrated’ about Jannik Sinner after losing to him in Cincinnati Open final

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Frances Tiafoe dissected the underrated aspects of Jannik Sinner’s game after losing the Cincinnati Open final.

Tiafoe played his best tennis of the season to reach the final, but despite having the support of the home crowd, the World number one emerged victorious.

This past week in Ohio was an encouraging one for Tiafoe who has had an indifferent season and skipped the Olympic Games to focus on North American hard court swing.

But Jannik Sinner is having the best season of his career so far and he is feeling better about his form and fitness heading into the US Open.

What does Frances Tiafoe think about Jannik Sinner’s game?

Frances Tiafoe entered the Cincinnati Open final as the underdog and he aimed to put Sinner under as much pressure as possible.

But after he came up short in the first set tiebreak, it was one-way traffic as Sinner claimed a 7-6(4), 6-2 win in one hour and 37 minutes.

This was the Italian’s fourth win over Tiafoe from five meetings and in the process he claimed the Cincinnati Open title for the first time.

Post-match, Tiafoe provided a glowing assessment of Sinner’s abilities and what makes him so difficult to beat.

“He has an underrated serve, I would say. I had a really tough time reading it,” Tiafoe told reporters. “How many times did he ace me today? I started getting better in the second set reading it, but I came out with a bad start.

“He moves so well, 6ft 4 and lanky and he moves so well, and his average pace of ball is big and he has great depth. So you feel you have to overpay to max his medium, so it’s tough.”

Jannik Sinner continues his fine 2024 season

Sinner has had a spectacular 2024 season and this continued by winning the Cincinnati Open.

The 23-year-old has now won five titles this year and he is the only player this season to have won two Masters 1000 titles this year.

Sinner has now won 15 of his 19 tour-level finals and he is a top contender for the US Open title. “It was a very difficult week, tough week. I’m very happy about today’s match,” Sinner said in his on-court interview.

“It was very tough mentally. Had such an amazing run here, and I tried to do my best today. We both were quite tired from yesterday. We both felt a lot of tension, but I’m very glad about [the] level I played today, especially in the important moments.”