Reigning Australian Open men’s singles champion Jannik Sinner was twice tied but advanced to the second round.
Number one in the men’s world rankings in tennis Jannik Sinner had to break a serious sweat as he opened his career with the first grand slam of the season at the Australian Open in Melbourne.
Sinner defeated Chile in the first round of men’s singles by Nicolas Jarryn 7–6 (7–2), 7–6 (7–5), 6–1 at the end of the match that lasted almost three hours.
Jarry, who was ranked 34th in the world and was unranked in the tournament, stretched the first two sets to a tiebreaker, but the number one ranked Sinner wrapped up the third set quite cleanly in half an hour.
Sinner’s last year was successful, but on the other hand it was also marred by the doping scandal.
In Melbourne, the audience still received him well and rewarded him with applause even after the victory.
– I was curious to see how I would be received. You never know what will happen, the Italian described his mood.
In March, Sinner gave a doping sample containing a prohibited substance twice, but avoided a ban. It was considered that a prohibited substance had entered Sinner’s body when the physiotherapist had treated the wound on his hand with a spray containing a prohibited substance.
After tight stages, the victory in the opening match added to Sinner’s relief.
– I was happy with how I was received. It was a very nice audience. Part of the audience was on my opponent’s side and part was on mine. The atmosphere was nice.
There was no rust
Sinner missed the tournaments leading up to the Australian Open, but denied that he was rusty at the start of the match because of it.
– Jarry played really, really well. Especially the passing was incredibly good at important moments. In addition, he returned balls from the backcourt really well and played aggressively. I could have lost the first two sets, Sinner underlined.
The first round saw a surprise on Monday, when Greece Stefanos Tsitsipas lost to unseeded USA To Alex Michelsen 5–7, 3–6, 6–2, 4–6. Tsitsipas was ranked 11th in the world and was also in the same place in the tournament chart.