Sinner roars the joy from the body. © APA/getty / ELSA
Jannik Sinner did his duty at the US Open and advanced to the second round. However, he had a lot more trouble at Flushing Meadows Park than he would have liked.
31. August 2022
From: det
It was a bizarre first round match for Jannik Sinner, which he fought on Tuesday evening (CEST) in New York with the German Daniel Altmaier. Bizarre because for the South Tyrolean it was a hike between extremes. Sometimes Sinner made world-class points, sometimes hair-raising mistakes, sometimes he played cat and mouse with his opponent, sometimes he let him come back into the game far too easily. In the end, however, the result counts: And after 3.35 hours, Sinner is the winner of the five-set match (5: 7, 6: 2, 6: 1, 3: 6, 6: 1).
Thus, the Sesto moves into the second round. There he meets the American qualifier Christopher Eubanks (ATP 145) on Thursday, who surprisingly kicked the Spaniard Pedro Martinez (ATP 54) out of the tournament at the start.
Altmaier surprises the favorite
But back to Sinner’s first round match. The Pusterer, who is 13th in the ATP ranking, was a big favorite against Daniel Altmaier, after all his competitor is 93rd in the world rankings. And: The German is currently having a real horror season, because of 23 games on the ATP tour he was only able to win five. There was initially nothing to be seen of this weakness in form on Tuesday in the Louis Armstrong Stadium, the second largest arena at the US Open.
Played a strong match: Daniel Altmaier. © APA/getty / ELSA
The 23-year-old from Kempen immediately played at eye level with Sinner. The South Tyrolean found it difficult to get going, often made complicated decisions and made a noticeable number of mistakes (13). Especially towards the end of the first set, which the strong Altmaier surprisingly won after a break.
Sinner makes 19 points in a row
With that, the German poured plenty of fuel into Sinner’s tank. As if stung by the tarantula, the 21-year-old Sextner went into the second set, which he – like later the third section – dominated at will. Above all, the constant changes in rhythm and the precise baseline shots brought Altmaier to the brink of despair. Across sentences, Sinner even scored 19 (!) points in a row – that’s an incredible value.
Jannik Sinner was struggling. © APA/getty / ELSA
South Tyrol’s reigning sportsman of the year was ahead 2-1 after sets against an opponent who was hanging on the ropes like a beaten boxer. So a “warned Wiesn”? No! Because Altmaier didn’t give up, gained self-confidence point by point and also pulled out one or the other magic stroke from his repertoire. Meanwhile, the worm came in at Sinner, which is why Altmaier got the set 6:3 and forced an all-important fifth round.
The sticking point
There Sinner promptly got into trouble again when he was 0:40 behind in his own service in the third game. But the youngster fended off a total of four break chances, grabbed the game to make it 2-1 and then made the break clear himself – with the most beautiful rally of the entire match. That was the crux of the matter: “Jan” was now back in the “flow”, roared with joy again and again, mobilized the fans – and finally after 3.35 hours he was able to celebrate his victory.
