Complicated debut – but in many respects also very convincing given the last few weeks – for Jannik Sinner in “Duty Free Tennis Championships”, rich tournament ATP 500 endowed with a prize pool of $ 2,949,665 which is being played on cement in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, broadcast live and exclusively on SuperTennis, the FIT TV.
The 20 year old from Sesto Pusterian.10 in the ranking and fourth-seeded, returning to the circuit after the quarter-finals reached in the Slam Down Under and a few days after the announcement of the separation from Riccardo Piatti (Sinner’s new coach is Simone Vagnozzi), defeated in comeback 46 76 (6) 63, after more than two and a half hours of battle, the Spanish Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, 43 ATP, to which he canceled three consecutive match-points in the tie-break of the second set. It is the fourth time in his career that Jannik takes home a match after saving match-points: had already happened against Johnson in Rome 2019, against Khachanov in Melbourne 2021 and against Herbert at Roland Garros 2021 (but in all three occasions it was only one).
Jannik Sinner snatches a win! 6-7, 6(3)-7 3-6! ????@janniksin #DDFTennis #ATP @ATPTour pic.twitter.com/c84lcfvdk5
— Dubai Tennis Champs (@DDFTennis) February 22, 2022
A lot of wind in their first challenge. The two studied each other for a while, tenaciously clinging to their respective turns. Jannik struggled harder, a bit rusty after the stop due to the positivity at Covid-19 (the last match was the defeat against Tsitsipas in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open last January 26) and certainly with some thoughts on his mind in more after the unexpected change of coach: the South Tyrolean recovered from 0-30 in the fourth game but in the tenth the feat was not successful, and Davidovich Fokina, rather insidious in response, forfeited the first set 6-4 .
At the start of the second set, the Spaniard canceled the first ball-break granted in the match with a winning backhand while on the second it was Sinner who wasted the opportunity, and the 22-year-old from Malaga, really solid in exchanges, was saved (1- 0). In the sixth game a decidedly less brilliant Jannik than usual recovered from 0-30 but then Davidovich Fokina got himself a ball-break with a backhand passer along the line running with the South Tyrolean who in the next point sent off the backhand (4 -2).
Foki is EVERYWHERE ??@alexdavidovich1 #DDFTennis pic.twitter.com/lHRg1xpUgc
– Tennis TV (@TennisTV) February 22, 2022
In the seventh game, however, even with a bit of luck, the blue resumed the break (4-3), taking away for the first time in the match (at the third overall chance) the joke from his opponent after having canceled the Spaniard two balls for the 5-2: then on the wings of enthusiasm he grabbed him on 4 all. He ended up deciding the tiebreaker. Davidovich Fokina unsheathed a couple of frightening passersby, went up 5-2 and then at 6-3 he reached the triple match-point: on the first the Spaniard’s forehand ended long, the second one canceled Sinner with an ace like this like the third with a cross backhand at the end of a breathtaking exchange (6-6). Then with the fourth point in a row Jannik got a set point and with a strong first he closed for 8 points to 6 equalizing the set count.
From the beginning of the third fraction the blue began to respond better and better: in the fourth game the Spaniard was good at canceling three break points but in the sixth the feat was not successful and at the end of an exciting exchange, closed from a high backhand volley, Jannik hit the break (4-2) confirming the advantage (5-2) against a Davidovich Fokina now in reserve of energy. In the eighth game the Spaniard saved a match-point (5-3) but shortly after Jannik dismissed the practice (6-4) with a liberating cry.
The tennis player coached by Simone Vagnozzi scored 5 aces against 2 double fouls, 63% of the first in the field with which he obtained 78% of the points while he won 59% of the points with the second: for him 23 winners against 19 free (27 against 31 the budget of the Spaniard).
On Wednesday in the second round Sinner will find the Briton on the other side of the net Amdy Murray, n.89 ATP, in the race thanks to a wild card, triumphed in Dubai in 2017: the 34-year-old Scottish from Dunblane won in two sets the only previous one with the South Tyrolean, played in the round of 16 in Stockholm last autumn.
–
