Cincinnati. World number 1 Jannik Sinner defeated American Alex Michelsen in straight sets 6-4, 7-5 on Wednesday to advance to the third round of the Cincinnati Masters 1000 tournament.
Sinner, the 2024 Australian Grand Slam champion, will next face Australian Jordan Thompson, who beat Argentine Sebastián Báez in comfortable sets of 6-2 and 6-4.
“I’m very happy to be in the next round. I’ve had problems here in previous years. But today I stayed positive and that helped me win,” said the Italian, who turns 23 on Friday and has never made it past the third round at the Midwestern venue.
Sinner, who missed the Paris Olympics due to tonsillitis and lost last week in the quarter-finals in Montreal, said he is not in his best form.
“I’m not 100 percent yet, but the main goal is the US Open,” she said. “I have a week (after Cincinnati) to prepare myself in the best way possible. The matches I can play here will help me in the Open,” she added.
The Greek Stefanos Tsisipas, ninth seed, had a more complicated time winning the first round match against the German Jan-Lennard Struff by 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Tsitsipas was down a set and 3-1, but suddenly he got his spirits up and his game started to fall into place.
A finalist in Cincinnati in 2022, the Greek sealed his victory with a pair of aces. Tsitsipas finished with 31 winning points, while the German Struff was hampered by 48 unforced errors, including 10 double faults.
– Iga resists a rebellion –
In the women’s WTA 1000 draw, world number one Iga Swiatek of Poland needed six match points and more than two hours to escape with a 6-0, 6-7 (8/10) and 6-2 victory over Frenchwoman Varvara Gracheva.
Swiatek took the first set in 22 minutes but was unable to close it out when leading 5-2 in the second. The 62nd-ranked Gracheva saved five match points and converted her own fifth set point to take the match to a third set.
The WTA number one regained her composure to finally claim the narrow victory that allowed her to reach the third round. “It was not easy to finish the second set,” said Swiatek. “She started to play freely, with nothing to lose.”
“I backed off a bit and she took advantage of her opportunities. I’m happy I was more proactive in the third set and played with more intensity,” she added.
In turn, the Spanish Paula Badosa, champion in Washington, took the first step in Cincinnati by defeating the American Peyton Stearns by 6-2, 7-5.
The Iberian will next play against the Russian Anna Kalinskaya, thirteenth seed, who won the comeback against Katerina Siniakova by 1-6, 6-2 and 6-3.
Also in a first round match, Russian Diana Shnaider had no difficulties against Chinese Zhang Shuai, whom she eliminated 6-1, 6-4.
#Sinner #advances #Cincinnati
– 2024-08-21 17:00:12
