Jannik Sinner on Monday cruised to victory over Tomas Machac in the opening round of the Qatar Open in his first match since his unsuccessful Australian Open title defense.
The world No. 2 eased past the 31st-ranked Czech 6-1, 6-4 to set up a second-round meeting with Alexei Popyrin in Doha, where Carlos Alcaraz is the top seed.
It was a convincing return to action for Sinner after his semi-final loss to Novak Djokovic at Melbourne Park last month.
Photo: Reuters
“Physically I feel good,” the 24-year-old said. “Every match is going to get tougher, so hopefully I will be ready for the next one.”
Sinner raced through the first set in under half an hour, but Machac improved in the second.
A break in the fifth game still proved enough for the four-time Grand Slam champion, although he needed five match points to close it out. On a windy day, the Italian lost just six points across his nine service games.
“You have to adapt to every situation and condition on the court,” Sinner said.
Sinner next takes on Popyrin, who beat Qatari wild-card Mubarak Shannan Zayid 6-0, 6-2.
Alcaraz, who also has not played since Melbourne, where he won the Australian Open title, was due to take to the court yesterday against France’s Arthur Rinderknech. The Spaniard was due to defend his Rotterdam title last week, but withdrew on the eve of the event.
In other round-of-32 matches, both Jakub Mensik and Arthur Fils fought back from a set down to progress.
Mensik, the sixth seed, let a first-set tiebreak slip after leading it 6-3 against British qualifier Jan Choinski. Mensik fell a break behind in the third set, but then broke twice to win 6-7 (6-8), 6-2, 6-4.
Fils also lost a first-set tiebreaker after leading, but recovered to beat Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-4.
NO HARD FEELINGS: Taiwan’s Lin Hsiang-ti and Indonesia’s Dhinda Amartya Pratiwi embraced after fighting to a tense and rare 30-29 final game in their Uber Cup match The Taiwanese men’s team on Wednesday fought back from the brink of elimination to defeat Denmark in Group C and advance to the quarter-finals of the Thomas Cup, while the women’s team were to face South Korea after press time last night in the Uber Cup quarter-finals in Horsens, Denmark. In the first match, Taiwan’s top shuttler Chou Tien-chen faced a familiar opponent in world No. 3 Anders Antonsen. It was their 16th head-to-head matchup, with the Dane taking his fourth victory in a row against former world No. 2 Chou, winning 21-14, 13-21, 21-15 in 1 hour, 22 minutes. The
Marta Kostyuk’s maiden WTA 1000 title in Madrid came on Saturday thanks to her power, poise and a pair of unexpected lucky shorts. The world No. 23 beat eighth-ranked Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 7-5 in under 90 minutes to secure the most prestigious trophy of her career, her third professional singles title and second in less than a month after Rouen. Yet as the 23-year-old Ukrainian posed for photographs at the Caja Magica, it was not just the silverware that caught the eye. Held alongside her team and her two dogs, Kostyuk showed off a piece of black men’s underwear, prompting
Tennis players are facing an unexpected opponent at the Madrid Open. A stomach virus or food poisoning has affected Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Marin Cilic and others, raising concerns. World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka avoided an upset by Naomi Osaka on the court on Monday and said she is trying to avoid illness by sticking to a diet of chicken breasts, rice and salad. The rumor among the players was bad shrimp tacos were to blame. Sabalenka knocked on wood for luck and said, “So far, so good. I heard that I have to avoid those tacos,” she laughed, adding “I stick to the
Throwing more than US$5 billion at a divisive new tour and walking away after five seasons does not look like good business, but LIV Golf was not all bad news for Saudi Arabia. Oil-funded LIV, which poached top stars and sent golf’s establishment into a tailspin, helped push the conservative kingdom into global view — one of its key aims, experts said. The exit, confirmed on Thursday after weeks of speculation, does not signal a flight of Saudi money from sport, even after the Middle East war that sparked Iranian attacks around the Gulf, they said. “Saudi Arabia is not
RSS