Jannik Sinner had little trouble at the beginning. © AFP / TOBIAS SCHWARZ
The 19-year-old shooting star of the international tennis scene made an impressive start at the ATP 250 tournament in Cologne.
20th October 2020
In the first appearance since his quarter-final duel with Rafael Nadal in Paris, Jannik Sinner convinced across the board on Tuesday evening. The young Sesto, who is ranked 46th in the world, defeated James Duckworth (ATP 97) in the 1st round of the “Bett1 HULKS Championship” in Cologne 6-1, 6-2. The game lasted just 61 minutes.
Set win after 22 minutes
Sinner started at a hell of a pace and immediately started with a break. “I felt really good, I started moving straight away,” said the South Tyrolean after the game. In fact, Duckworth, who slipped into the main draw as a lucky loser, had absolutely nothing to oppose at first. The first movement was over after a whopping 22 minutes.
At the beginning of the second section, Sinner had the only short hang in his game – but this was also due to the much more courageous and powerful game of his counterpart. After 5 completely balanced games, the Pusterer, who was 9 years younger than him, pulled the reins again and made a break to 4: 2. After that, the one-sided game was de facto decided.
“The changeover was an excellent success”
Jannik Sinner
The stomach problems that led to Sinner’s cancellation at the ATP tournament in St. Petersburg were nowhere to be seen. On the contrary, even Sinner was a bit surprised after his first round win: “I recently played on clay, that’s completely different terrain. However, the switch to the fast surface was an excellent success. It can go on like this.”
Another qualifier awaits on Thursday
Sinner will continue on Thursday with the duel against French qualifier Pierre-Hugues Herbert, who surprisingly asserted himself against US boy Tennys Sandgren in the first round. The 29-year-old Herbert (ATP 82) and Sinner have never faced each other before.
Author: fop
