(Beijing) Italian Jannick Sinner won the Beijing tournament on Wednesday, beating Russian Daniil Medvedev in the final in two tight sets 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7/2).

The Italian confirmed his victory the day before against the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz by dominating Medvedev for the first time in seven confrontations.

“Daniil, thank you for letting me win at least one match,” joked Sinner after a meeting locked down by the two players.

In the first set, Sinner missed his only opportunity to take his opponent’s serve with a volley that was too long. But he quickly led 5-0 in the deciding game, before winning with a forehand into the net from Medvedev.

Same scenario in the second round, concluded by a tiebreaker where the player from Trentino quickly broke away and finally won with a winning return.

The 22-year-old Italian was able to rely on an excellent serve, especially on his second ball with a 71% success rate.

“We had some hell of a duel, especially this year. Thank you for making me better. I trained a lot to beat you. […] Thank you very much, it’s special to share this moment with you,” Sinner said to his rival after his title.

Nicknamed the “fox” in reference to his red hair, he defeated world number 2 Alcaraz 7-6 (7/4), 6-1 in the semi-final.

With this victory, he will move up three places in the world rankings to 4th next week, just behind Novak Djokovic, Alcaraz and Medvedev.

This will be the first time an Italian has entered the top 5 in the ATP rankings since Adriano Panatta in 1976, 47 years ago.

This performance also confirms his good progress after his first semi-final in a Grand Slam this year at Wimbledon, lost against Djokovic.

With this ATP 500, Sinner won his third tournament this year, after the Masters 1000 in Toronto and that in Montpellier.