Jannik Sinner outlasts Alexander Zverev in Cincinnati, and more of the best 2024 ATP Masters 1000 matches

The 2024 tennis season was filled with noteworthy stories, breakthrough moments, and countless trophy lifts. But what were the best matches of the year that was?

We rolled the tape, and this week, TENNIS.com counted down some of the best ATP matches of the past year (after counting down our WTA picks last week). Our countdown continues with the best ATP Masters 1000, or other top-level tour events, of 2024. What big names had the biggest performances when the lights were brightest?

5. Daniil Medvedev def. Tommy Paul, Indian Wells SF

The BNP Paribas Open took Baseline's top spot for wildest tournament of the year, and the two men's semifinals were no exception. After Carlos Alcaraz toppled Jannik Sinner from a set behind in the first of their three matches for the year, snapping the Italian's 19 match winning streak, Daniil Medvedev and Tommy Paul were given a tough act to follow.

In a nighttime desert tussle that lasted two hours and 23 minutes, the two delivered, with Medvedev eventually advancing to the final with a 1-6, 7-6(2), 6-2 victory.

The self-proclaimed hard-court specialist, who finished runner-up to Alcaraz in his 33rd career final on the surface, made no secret of his disdain for the courts at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in the past. He would've been forgiven for letting Paul's inspired start—he led 4-0 in a blink, and broke Medvedev in all three service games in the first set—seal his fate on a day already put off course by weather delays. After Paul brought the second set back even from his own 4-0 hole, the point of the match went Medvedev's way in the tiebreak and tippled the scales in his favor for good.

With Paul serving down 3-2, a well-struck lob from Medvedev spoiled the American's serve-and-volley plans, and Medvedev stretched for two tough volleys to reclaim a mini-break. Paul appeared to twist his ankle while retrieving Medvedev's first volley and did not win a point for the rest of the set.

"When it's evening and cold here, it's very tough to go through the serve," said Medvedev, who was broken in all three of his first-set service games. "I understood that, and he played an unbelievable first set. So I was like, OK, if I want to win, I just have to try to do a little bit better to find the shot that's going to make him in trouble. I found some."

But he couldn't regroup the same way after a lost lead in the final. From 3-0 down in the first set, Alcaraz eased to a 7-6(5) 6-1 win over Medvedev for the trophy, beating him in the Indian Wells final for a second year running.

4. Casper Ruud def. Novak Djokovic, Monte Carlo SF

Nobody beats Casper Ruud six times in a row! After failing to win a set in the first five meetings against Novak Djokovic, the Norwegian not only scored a long-awaited first win in the head-to-head in the semifinals of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, but also broke another winless spell against the game's best players.

Despite being a three-time Grand Slam finalist, Ruud was previously 0-11 in his career against Top 3 players before his 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 victory over Djokovic, who was ranked world No. 1 at the time.

"This is a day I will remember for a really long time,” an admittedly shocked Ruud said in his on-court interview after the match.

“Beating a world No. 1 is something I’ve never done. Beating Novak is something I’ve never done. So very, very happy."

After Ruud closed out that first set, Djokovic rebounded in a big way, storming through the second set in just 38 minutes. And even after Ruud grabbed an early break for 2-0 in the third set—and eventually extended that lead to 4-1—Djokovic wasn’t done then either, winning three straight games to catch up to 4-all in the decider.

But after one last Ruud hold, Djokovic fell behind 0-40 while serving to stay in the match at 4-5, and after fighting off the first two match points, the Serb double faulted on the third to end it.

Ruud's good feelings would soon dissipate in the final, however, as he was beaten soundly by Stefanos Tsitsipas, 6-1, 6-4.

3. Andrey Rublev def. Felix Auger-Aliassime, Madrid F

After sealing one of the upsets of the year against two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinals, there was something kismet about Andrey Rublev's eventual championship at the Mutua Madrid Open. All the more so when you consider that he had beenclose to withdrawing from the tournament earlier in the fortnight, as he struggled with illness that required a hospital trip and, later, inflammation in one of his fingers.

"If you knew what I've been through the last nine days, you would not imagine that I would be able to win a title," Rublev said after his titantic 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 victory over Felix Auger-Aliassime in the final.

"I was [close to withdrawing], because there was a few issues I couldn't fix, but I have to give full credit to the doctors. They're magical. What they were doing ... somehow, I was able at least to play. They're the best so far, all the tour, that I had."

Former world No. 6 Auger-Aliassime had an abridged road to his first career Masters 1000 final, receiving two retirements and a walkover—the latter from No. 1 seed and Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner—to reach the final. And to start the match, it looked as though, perhaps, he had the upper hand physically once more. The Canadian raced out to a 4-1 lead against a subdued Rublev, who double-faulted on the first two points of the match.

But whether it was magic, or Rublev's sheer force of will, the tide slowly turned the seeded player's way. As the match time continued to rise, so did Rublev's energy, and when his opportunity came in the second set, he pounced. Breaks came for the Russian in the final game of each of the second and third sets, with a double fault by the Canadian eventually handing Rublev a second career Masters 1000 title.

Read more: Rublev is the 'most proud' he's ever been after defying adversity in Madrid victory

2. Ben Shelton def. Daniil Medevedev, Laver Cup

After leading Team World to its second straight Laver Cup title in 2023, Ben Shelton's return to the competition in 2024 proved bumpier. After going undefeated in 2023, Shelton was winless through his first three matches of the 2024 event ... until, that is, he faced Daniil Medvedev on Day 3.

In the pair's first-ever head-to-head meeting, Medvedev saved two set points en route to claiming the first set, but Shelton's first break of the day, late in the second set, proved a springboard for his eventual 6-7(6), 7-5, [10-7] win. The American had previously Houdini'd out of a 0-40 hole in the sixth game of the second set.

“I think for me it was really important to just stay loose in those moments," Shelton said post-match. "I know that I’m a great server, I know I can serve, play my way out of tight spots and I did a great job of that.

"When I got a little bit tight at certain points in the second set, I was like, ‘Just hit a bomb.'"

Shelton's win put Team World up 11-7 on the overall scoreboard, but Medvedev and co. would have the last laugh. Thanks to the heroics of Carlos Alcaraz, Team Europe reclaimed possession of the Laver Cup by a 13-11 final score.

1. Jannik Sinner def. Alexander Zverev, Cincinnati SF

Alexander Zverev wasn't the only opponent Jannik Sinner faced in the semifinals of the Cincinnati Open.

First, there was the weather: Rain forced the two players off the court late in the first set.

Next, there was his balky right hip, a recurring physical issue for Sinner in 2024 that, at times, left him limping between points at the Lindner Family Tennis Center.

But in this 7-6(9), 5-7, 7-6(4) thriller, which lasted three hours and eight minutes, the world No. 1 showed both the game that helped him record a historic season and rise to the top of the ATP rankings, and the tenacity that's sure to keep him there.

Sinner had lost his four previous meetings against Zverev, including a five-set slog in their last meeting at the 2023 US Open. The German had opportunities to maintain his mastery of Sinner, but failed to serve out the first set. The Italian later saved two set points in the first set tiebreak, and after neither man so much as sniffed a break point in the last 12 games, the stage was set for one of the most tense tiebreaks of the year.

The pressure was finally released when Zverev's final backhand floated well long, after which the usually-stoic Sinner bellowed an elongated "Come on!"

“Sometimes you have to play a bit with the gut feeling. And I think this today was, my strength,” Sinner said in his on-court interview. “[There were] some up and downs, which can happen, especially when you play [for] more than three hours. It was a good match, I think for both of us. He served very, very well, so I can be very proud.”

Sinner went on to shake off any physicals concerns to beat Frances Tiafoe in straight sets in the final, capturing his second Masters 1000 crown (of three) and fifth title (of eight) in 2024.