(Reuters) – Italian teenager Jannik Sinner battled past compatriot Stefano Travaglia 7-6(4) 6-4 to win the Great Ocean Road Open on Sunday and build some momentum heading into the Australian Open.
Fourth seed Sinner, who came through a marathon contest against Karen Khachanov in the previous round, made a slow start and had to wrestle back a break of serve in the opening set before taking it in a tie break.
The 19-year-old twice led by a break in the second but failed to drive home his advantage, allowing Travaglia to stick around in the contest.
But a third break at 4-4 put Sinner in position to serve for the match and he sealed his second career title when Travaglia dumped a forehand into the net.
Sinner, who won the Sofia Open at the end of last year, becomes the youngest ATP player with two titles to his name since Novak Djokovic in 2006.
Sinner opens his Australian Open campaign against 11th seed Denis Shapovalov on Monday.
Reporting by Arvind Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford