Jannik Sinner, of Italy, kisses the championship trophy after defeating Taylor Fritz, of the United States, in the men's singles final of the U.S. Open tennis championships in New York. (AP )

NEW YORK, Sept 9, (Xinhua): Italy's top-ranked Jannik Sinner defeated American Taylor Fritz 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 on Sunday to claim his first US Open men's singles title. "This title means so much because the last period of my career was not easy. I love tennis, I practice a lot for these stages. I understood, especially in this tournament, how important the mental part is in this sport. I'm very happy, very proud to share this moment with my team," Sinner said. Top-seeded Sinner is experiencing the best season of his career so far.

The Italian won his first career Grand Slam title at the Australian Open. His US Open win also earned him a prize of 3.6 million U.S. dollars and increased his ATP season points to 9,000, nearly 3,000 points ahead of second-ranked Alexander Zverev in the race to the ATP Finals. "So many big wins for me this season, starting with Australia," said Sinner. "Playing so well there gave me confidence.

The work never stops. I know I can still improve, as we saw today, a couple of things. But you have to be proud of what you have and the rest you have to work for it. I can't wait for my continued process." Shortly ahead of the start of this year's US Open, Sinner had been embroiled in a doping controversy and said he felt more "pressure" in New York than winning his first Grand Slam title in January. "Here it was difficult because also the pre-tournament circumstances weren't easy. I felt like that I have grown match by match, and that my confidence level went higher and higher at some point," Sinner remarked.