Jannik Sinner and Taylor Fritz will each bid for a slice of history when they face off in Sunday’s US Open final.
American 12th seed Fritz promises to delight the New York crowd if he can end the United States’ 21-year wait for a male Grand Slam singles champion.
If he triumphs against world number one Sinner, Fritz would become the first American man to win a major since Andy Roddick at the 2003 US Open.
Sinner, meanwhile, could become the first player since Guillermo Vilas in 1977 to win his first two Grand Slam titles in the same season after clinching a maiden major at January’s Australian Open.
He would also be the first Italian man to win the Flushing Meadows singles title.
The final begins at 19:00 BST, with commentary available on BBC 5 Live and the BBC Sport website and app.
Speaking after his semi-final win over compatriot Frances Tiafoe, Fritz said it was “a dream come true” to become the first American man since Roddick in 2006 to reach the singles showpiece at Flushing Meadows.
“I’m in the final so I’m going to come out and give everything I possibly have and I know that for a fact,” he added.
Fritz has beaten higher-ranked players Alexander Zverev and Casper Ruud over the past two weeks, but he faces his toughest task yet against Sinner.
Sinner has won all five ATP Tour-level finals he has played this season, with four of those victories arriving on hard courts.
However, Sinner is aware that he will have a partisan crowd against him at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
“Being in America for sure, the crowd will be a little bit more on his side,” he said.
“But it’s normal. It’s like when I play in Italy, so I’m going to accept that.”
Sinner v Fritz head-to-head
Despite facing top seed Sinner, Fritz says he expects the final to be less stressful than his gruelling five-set win over Tiafoe.
“It was to make a US Open final, whoever won it was the American that made it to the final. It’s a stressful situation to be in,” Fritz said.
“It’s different from playing the world number one, who you’re probably not going to be the favourite against.”
The 26-year-old won his first encounter with Sinner at Indian Wells in 2021, but he fell to a 6-4 4-6 6-4 defeat by the Italian at the same tournament last year.
“I’ve always enjoyed playing him [Sinner]. To be honest, I don’t think I’m going to be put in a more stressful situation than I was today,” Fritz added.
Sinner, 22, arrived in New York in top form and is on an 11-match winning streak having won his third ATP Masters 1000 title in Cincinnati last month.
By reaching the US Open final, he has seemingly put the controversy of testing positive for a banned substance earlier this year behind him.
“We went just day by day, really, with not so many expectations,” said Sinner, who beat British number one Jack Draper in the semi-finals.
“I was just trying to find confidence throughout the days. We practised very hard in the days in between trying to prepare each match in the best possible way.”
There will be a focus on Sinner’s left wrist, which he appeared to injure after falling in the second set against Draper.
“The physio loosened it up very fast on the court, so I felt OK in the beginning. Then it went away by playing, which is good,” Sinner said in his post-match news conference on Friday.
“Hopefully it’s nothing to be concerned about. I’m quite relaxed because if it’s something bad, you feel it straightaway a bit more.”
