BEIJING/WASHINGTON, October 2, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)
After winning his second China Open title in three years, Jannik Sinner showed why he remains – along with Japan Open champion and current World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz – as the players to beat on the ATP Tour.
The World No. 2 and top-seeded Sinner defeated 19-year-old American Learner Tien, 6-2, 6-2, to win the ATP 500 hard-court title at the National Tennis Centre in Beijing Wednesday. He needed just 72 minutes to wrap up his 21st tour-level title – sixth on the ATP 500 level – and third of the 2025 season after lifting trophies at the Australian Open and Wimbledon earlier this year.
Sinner’s triumph in the Chinese capital came less than a month after the heartbreak of losing the US Open title match to Alcaraz, which also dropped him to No. 2 in the PIF ATP Rankings after spending 65 consecutive weeks as the ATP’s top-ranked player.
Together again @janniksin | @chinaopen | #2025ChinaOpen pic.twitter.com/6nGYaTrMfI
— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 1, 2025
The 24-year-old Italian champion was solid behind his first-serve, winning 77 percent (27 of 35) of his first-serve points, and saved both break points he faced from Tien. He finished with 10 aces, hit 22 winners and made just nine unforced errors. Sinner converted four of six break points and outpointed Tien 58-38.
During a post-match on-court interview with ATP Media after winning the China Open crown, Sinner gave props to Tien, whose ranking shot up 16 spots to No. 36. “Tien is having a great season, beating incredible players with very positive stats against Top-10 players.
“I knew I had to be very careful, but I tried to stay very aggressive in the beginnings, which I’ve done, so I’m happy,” Sinner said.
And that’s how it’s done
The moment @janniksin secured his second @chinaopen title #2025ChinaOpen pic.twitter.com/sXDXeppQob
— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 1, 2025
Later, during his champion’s news conference, Sinner opened up about his writing “thank you” on the camera lens after beating Tien.
“Yes, I feel like the crowd here has always been very special to me, already a couple years ago when I arrived,” he said.
“When you win again a title where you won already, it’s a very special place, no? It was for sure couple of years ago a turning point for my career, playing some great tennis against great opponents. This I will always remember.
“I come back here, and winning again, it’s very nice. Yeah, so the support has been amazing since day one. Seeing a packed stadium for the final, it’s amazing. The crowd was very nice.
“So yeah, that’s why I wrote ‘thank you’.”
Players to win multiple ATP Beijing singles titles:
– Djokovic, 6
– Nadal, 2
– @janniksin, 2Not a bad list to join #ChinaOpen pic.twitter.com/hATl2FmSGc
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 1, 2025
Sinner, who earned his 42nd victory of the 2025 season, joined Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal as the third player to win the China Open more than once. He was asked to describe his feelings about joining two of the Big Three as a multiple winner in Beijing.
“Yeah, great, of course, having my name next to them,” he said. “In the same time, as I always say everyone is different, everyone tries to make his own path and way of career. I don’t know how many times they played here actually.
“For me, this will always be a beautiful tournament no matter what’s coming in the future. It’s very unusual to come to a place for the first time and you win straightaway. This happened to me here. Now three finals in a row in three years. It means that I really like to play tennis here. I feel very comfortable.
“Yeah, it’s very nice also to see that other big, big players have played here in these stadiums. It’s very nice.”
Back on top in Beijing @janniksin defeats Tien 6-2 6-2 to reclaim his @chinaopen crown.#2025ChinaOpen pic.twitter.com/rTJrIOktLf
— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 1, 2025
Soon after his Beijing triumph, Sinner jetted to Shanghai and the Rolex Shanghai Masters, where he’s the defending champion of the ATP Masters 1000 event. Following a first-round bye, Sinner will open against 49th-ranked Daniel Altmaier of Germany on Saturday. Before he left, Sinner was asked about the difficulty of being fit and fresh this time of the year, during the Asian Swing of the season.
“It’s difficult,” Sinner said. “I feel like also last year we managed very well the season. I managed to play incredibly well at the end of the season because I made some choices earlier on by not playing couple of tournaments.
“I’m not saying that this is the right choice or not. You know, you never know. What I try to do is to understand. It’s very difficult when you’re 23, 24, because you’re still young, to understand fully your body and mind, what the best thing is to do. That’s why exactly you have the best possible people around you trying to guide you a little bit at times.”
On court with the Beijing champion @janniksin #ChinaOpen pic.twitter.com/79z65x3GFj
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 1, 2025
Unlike missing tournaments due to injury or fatigue, this year Sinner missed three months after reaching a settlement with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) over two positive drug tests in 2024 for the banned steroid clostebol. He’s played just 47 tour-level matches this season, while Alcaraz (67-7) has competed in 74 matches and won eight titles.
“One thing is if you’re injured, you accept it better,” said Sinner, who has compiled a 42-5 win-loss record in 2025. “This year was a little bit different. It was not easy. But in the same time I used this time to work on things.
“We’ve been practicing very hard. I feel like physically I’m getting slightly better every time. So yeah, but seeing also last year I was fresh in the end of the year because I made some choices. So yeah, that’s it.”
— Jannik Sinner (@janniksin) October 1, 2025
By the numbers
Jannik Sinner has already qualified for the 2025 Nitto ATP Finals. However, in the battle for ATP Year-End No. 1, he trails current World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz by 2,580 points in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin. Alcaraz pulled out of the ATP Masters 1000 event in Shanghai citing an ankle injury he incurred in the run-up to winning the Japan Open title in Tokyo on Tuesday.
“Quotable …”
“I’m not the only one who is changing. If you ask every player, every player is changing stuff and trying to get better. You know, whatever we try to do, it’s not crazy steps, just trying to adjust a couple of things, trying to get better as a player, like everyone else does.
“Yeah, I mean, that’s it. Certain shots that worked slightly better than the months before, certain shots we can still improve. But it’s also normal, and I’m just looking forward to have as many matches as possible in every tournament. This gives me also the chance to try as many things as possible. So, let’s see, but, yeah, we are quite happy with the work we are doing.”
– Jannik Sinner of Italy, during his pre-tournament news conference for the Rolex Shanghai Masters on Thursday, commenting on changes he’s made to his game since the US Open.
