The Italians took over the Terra Wortmann Open this year.
Not only did Jannik Sinner win the singles title but the doubles championship went to Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori.
For world No. 1 Sinner, the visit to Halle resulted in his first grass court title. He defeated 5th seed Hubert Hurkacz, 7-6(8) 7-6(2).
Hurkacz had form at the event, winning in 2022.
In this year’s semi, he served 17 aces to five in a 7-6(2) 6-4 victory over 2nd seed Alexander Zverev, who had a day where his game just wouldn’t work for him.
In the final, Sinner would not allow Hurkacz to play that well again and he made a few too many errors.
But one freakish shot from Hurkacz in the second set made the stadium erupt. After Sinner reached a drop shot and returned it with a lob to the baseline, Hurkacz ran to the ball and still facing away from the court, swatted it over his shoulder and down the line behind him for a winner. Sinner moved to cover that line but could only applaud as the ball sailed past him.
Afterwards at his press conference, Sinner analysed the match.
“I think when you play someone like Hubi, you play just a couple of important points throughout the whole set. And today we had twice the tiebreak and I started off twice better, breaking him first and the mini-breaks, and this helps also a little bit with the confidence, you can serve a little bit freer.
“I think that’s it. I tried to stay still quite aggressive. The grass court was more used today so it was a little bit easier also how to move.”
Sinner’s path to the final was undoubtedly smoothed a little by the fact that five of the singles seeds were out by the end of the second round.
The defending champion and No. 7 seed Alexander Bublik bowed out to 2023 Wimbledon quarter-finalist Christopher Eubanks 6-5(5) 6-4 3-6.
The injured Félix Auger-Aliassime, the 8th seed, gave a walkover to wild card Dominik Köpfer; American Marcus Giron defeated 4th seed Andrey Rublev who was out of sorts and constantly slipping on the grass, 3rd seed Daniil Medevev lost in a third set tiebreak to China’s Zhizhen Zhang; and Stefanos Tsitsipas, seeded 6th, lost to Jan-Lennard Struff, who recently made the quarter-finals on the grass of Stuttgart though was unable to play that match due to illness.
In Halle, Struff went out to Sinner in the quarter-finals, but not before he seriously challenged the top seed, 2-6 7-6(1) 6-7(3).
In his semi, Sinner took on Zhizhen Zhang who had been a surprise package on the grass. He became the only unseeded semi-finalist, but his aggression couldn’t overcome Sinner’s sublime skills.
Frenchman Arthur Fils was another player making an impression in Halle, having only won his first match on grass at ‘s-Hertogenbosch this month. The 20 year old pushed Zverev to three sets in their quarter-final.
As for Sinner, he was measured in assessing the improvement on his play on grass.
“It has improved for sure, but I think [my] general level has improved. I mean, I serve a little bit better, which helps a lot on this surface, and am trying to return a bit more aggressive.
“Obviously happy about this year [in Halle], but Wimbledon is a different tournament. Let’s see what I can do there.”
As with the singles, the doubles event was true to the seeding. The Bolelli and Vavassori team was the top seed. The pair had reached the final of Roland Garros recently and last year were runners-up in Halle.
This year in the final, they came up against Germans Tim Pütz and Kevin Krawietz. The two teams had played this year in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, where the Italians won 7-5 6-4.
On the Halle grass, both teams demonstrated their experience in doubles tennis, in their strategies and skills.
But it was Bolelli and Vavassori who claimed the championship, 7-6(3) 7-6(5).
As Vavassori clutched his trophy, he told the crowd, “As a child, I watched the broadcasts from Halle on television and thought it would be nice to play there and win.”