Jannik Sinner is on the road to success in Cologne. © Bett1HULKS
Jannik Sinner is in the quarter-finals of the ATP 250 tournament in Cologne. The youngster made the next convincing, albeit bizarre, appearance on Thursday.
October 22, 2020
While Sinner needed 61 minutes to bag his victory at the start against James Duckworth, it was 75 minutes in the round of 16 against Pierre-Hugues Herbert before the 6: 3-6: 1 success was dry. However, the French qualifier and doubles specialist (ATP 82) demanded the world number 46. from South Tyrol more than could be right for him.
This was primarily due to the fact that Sinner initially did not find the necessary consistency in the first sentence and had trouble with the strong returns of his counterpart. So it came about that the favorite gave up 2 of his 3 first serves. However, Herbert’s weak serve turned out to be even more glaring: He only managed two service games in the entire match. In total, Sinner landed no fewer than 6 breaks in 8 opposing services. This led to the fact that he finally won the 1st round confidently and didn’t leave Herbert the slightest chance in the 2nd.
“I knew him from the Challenger in Val Gardena”
Jannik Sinner on Pierre-Hugues Herbert
Before he went into the cabin, Sinner was relieved to have managed to turn around after a difficult start. “I never fell behind, that was very important,” said the 19-year-old Sesto, “I knew him from Challenger in Val Gardena, because I saw him play live. Otherwise I only watched Herbert in a double on TV. But I knew that it was very varied. That wasn’t easy, so I’m very happy with my performance. ”
Sinner climbs up the world rankings
Sinner can definitely be satisfied with the course of the tournament in Cologne – also because in the virtual ranking he has the best position of his career after reaching the quarter-finals. He now occupies the 44th position.
Sinner can already work his way up on Friday when he pays for the winner of the match between Canada’s exceptional talent Denis Shapovalov (ATP 12) and the French veteran Gilles Simon (ATP 58) in the next round. The two are currently facing each other in Cologne’s Lanxess Arena.
Author: fop
