Phenomenal Jannik despite the heat and the value of the opponent: lost the first set, rises to the chair and wins 4-6 7-6 6-4 after two hours and 50 minutes of battle: now he will face the winner between Ruusuvuori and Ymer
Fantastic Sinner: after a battle of 2 hours and 50 minutes he conquers for the first time the second round of a Masters 1000 in Miami (5,500,000 and, hard) beating world number 22 Khachanov with a score of 4-6 7-6 (2) 6-4. Now the winner of the match between the Finnish Ruusuvuori and the Swede Mikael Ymer awaits him in a part of the board that immediately lost Zverev and Goffin.
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HOW HOT – Jannik and the Russian had already faced each other twice: in the first round of the Us Open 2020, the famous match of Khachanov’s comeback from two sets below with the blue who finished the game crippled by cramps and then in the semi-final of the Melbourne tournament 1 in January, with the success of Sinner in three sets that launched him towards the final triumph. Once again their match is decided on the edge of equilibrium, but this time with an extra unexpected factor, the climatic conditions of Miami, with a UV index of solar radiation equal to 10/10, which makes the field an oven to microwave. Despite two players with very heavy blows facing each other, at the beginning the serve is not decisive: only in the first set there will be 12 break points for the Italian and 8 for the Russian. The challenge therefore changes direction depending on who, from the bottom, manages to keep the highest pace and, after having moved the rival, to find depth and angles first. Jannik immediately climbs 2-0 with a 3-0 ball, in an intense match from the first exchange, so much so that the second game lasts even 17 minutes and 44 “. Khachanov, however, immediately gets the counterbreak also thanks to two double fouls by his rival and from 4-3 for the blue he slips a partial of 12 points to 3 that gives him the partial.
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WHAT EMOTIONS – The Russian seems more physically ready in the extreme conditions in which it is played, while Sinner often bends over on his legs after the exchanges and at changes of sides he eagerly tries to refresh himself with ice-cold towels. The second set, however, ends up exalting the player serving as it had never happened in the first: Khachanov does not grant break points, Jannik offers two but cancels them as a champion. Then, in the ensuing tie break, he imposes his class with a couple of luxury winners, including a low forehand volley worthy of the best forwards. An extraordinary demonstration, yet another, of a sensational mental strength, because in the third set, despite the balance not being broken, it is Jannik who picks up the pace in the decisive games, even if in the eighth game he must cancel two delicate break points and in the ninth, with an incredible recovery of cross right on an opponent’s short ball, so far the point of the tournament, he gets a ball-break (with the compliments of the opponent) that opens the doors of glory for him: went to serve for the match, Jannik from 30-0 gets back up to 30-30 but a mistake by the Russian and a solid first give him the deserved success: he scored just 3 points more than the opponent, but did better with the winners, 32 (22 with the obverse) to 25. Chapeau.
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28 March – 22:49
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