Jannik Sinner wins Halle to become eighth man to win his first event played as ATP No. 1

Jannik Sinner has captured his fourth ATP title of the year—and the first of his career on grass—in Halle, defeating Hubert Hurkacz in the final of the ATP 500-level event on Sunday, 7-6 (8), 7-6 (2).

And with that he joins a very exclusive list, becoming the eighth man in ATP rankings history to win his first event played as No. 1.

MEN TO WIN FIRST EVENT AS ATP NO. 1 (since 1973):
Jimmy Connors (1974 Indianapolis)
Bjorn Borg (1979 Monte Carlo)
Mats Wilander (1988 Palermo)
Stefan Edberg (1990 Long Island)
Pete Sampras (1993 Hong Kong)
Novak Djokovic (2011 Canada)
Andy Murray (2016 ATP Finals)
Jannik Sinner (2024 Halle)

And there’s more.

The 22-year-old Sinner is actually the youngest man to achieve the feat since Sampras in 1993, and the third-youngest to do it at all, after Sampras and Connors, who were both 21 years old.

YOUNGEST MEN TO WIN FIRST EVENT AS ATP NO. 1 (since 1973):
Pete Sampras [21 years, 8 months]
Jimmy Connors [21 years, 11 months]
Jannik Sinner [22 years, 10 months]
Bjorn Borg [22 years, 10 months]
Mats Wilander [24 years, 1 month]
Novak Djokovic [24 years, 2 months]
Stefan Edberg [24 years, 7 months]
Andy Murray [29 years, 6 months]

Sinner is just two days younger than Borg was when he won the first tournament he played as No. 1—22 years, 10 months and 7 days compared to 22 years, 10 months and 9 days.

There were zero breaks of serve in the all-Top 10 final at the ATP 500 event, though Sinner did have a few close calls—he saved a break point in the fourth game of the match, as well as a set point down 7-6 in the first set tie-break. But in the end he was just too good at the tail-end of both sets to defeat Hurkacz for the third time in five career meetings, breaking their 2-2 head-to-head tie.

Sinner has now won an ATP title on all three surfaces in his career, with the majority of his 14 career titles—12—coming on hard courts, including his biggest career title at the Australian Open this year. He’s won one on clay, at Umag in 2022, and now one on grass.