WORLD number one Jannik Sinner‘s incredible 2024 ATP Tour season continued in Shanghai overnight as the Itlian star took out his eighth title by denying former world number one Novak Djokovic his first this year. While Djokovic has a gold medal to his name from his success in Paris, he is still chasing his maiden title in 2024, an unfamiliar circumstance for the now number four.

While he had his opportunities against Sinner – particularly in the first set while up on serve 5-4 – Sinner always found a way to stay in tough and then beat Djokovic at his own game in the tiebreaker. Despite the Serbian being one of the greatest tiebreak players of all time, it was Sinner who took the early break to go 3-0 up to start, and then closed it out in tight circumstances.

The second set was much of the same between the duo, with Sinner winning the lone break of serve in the fourth game to hand himself a 4-1 lead. Incredibly Sinner only had the two break point opportunities for the match, and took his chance. It would result in him closing out the match 7-6 6-3 in an hour and 37 minutes.

“It was a very tough match, obviously, playing against Novak is one of the toughest challenges we have,” Sinner said post-match. “I’m very happy with how I handled the situation. He was serving great the first set, I couldn’t find a way to break him. I played a really good tie-break which gave me confidence to start off well in the second set.

“It’s tough to tell you a secret about [Djokovic] because he doesn’t have any weaknesses. You have to try and use the small chances that he gives you, but there are not many during the match. He is a legend of our sport, he’s very tough to play against, so I am very happy.”

Djokovic has more title wins in Shanghai (four) and overall match victories than any other player, but Sinner was able to find the answers – even if he did not share them – to level the pair’s head-to-head at four victories apiece. The Serbian congratulated Sinner on his victory and thanked the tournament and fans.

“I’ve had lots of success at Chinese tournaments in the past and hadn’t played in China for five years, so I’ve missed it and I’m really glad that I came this year,” Djokovic said. “I think I played some really good tennis, but congratulations to Jannik. He was just too good today. Too strong, too fast, well done. You’re having an incredible year. You deserve this.”