Jannik Sinner takes the first set against Taylor Fritz in the US Open final

NEW YORK -- Jannik Sinner has the lead in the U.S. Open final, taking the first set 6-3 over Taylor Fritz on Sunday.

The top-ranked Sinner broke Fritz's serve three times in the 41-minute set. The 12th-seeded Fritz had been broken only nine times in his first six matches at Flushing Meadows.

In front of a crowd that included Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, Fritz was trying to end a 21-year major title drought for American men.

A victory for Fritz would be the first Grand Slam singles title for an American man since Andy Roddick in 2003. Sinner is trying for his second major championship of the season.

The match began shortly after 2 p.m. under a sunny sky at Arthur Ashe Stadium on a 70-degree Fahrenheit (21 degrees Celsius) day.

The No. 1-ranked Sinner is 34-2 on hard courts in 2024 with four titles, including at the Australian Open in January. The 23-year-old Italian is on a 10-match winning streak. Following his win at the Cincinnati Open last month, it was revealed that he had been exonerated in a doping case after testing positive for an anabolic steroid twice in March.

The 12th-seeded Fritz, a 26-year-old Californian, reached his first major final by outlasting fellow American Frances Tiafoe in five sets on Friday. That allowed Fritz to become the first man from the United States to play for a Grand Slam title since Roddick lost to Roger Federer in 2009 at Wimbledon.

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis