Russia's Daniil Medvedev hits a return to China's Shang Juncheng.
Doha, Qatar: Jannik Sinner made a confident return to action at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open yesterday, defeating Czech opponent Tomas Machac in straight sets to launch his Doha campaign in brilliant fashion.
Playing his first match since falling short in his Australian Open title defence, the Italian World No. 2 withstood windy conditions to secure a 6-1, 6-4 win in 70 minutes on the opening day of the main round action at the ATP 500 event.
The victory at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex last night extended Sinner’s winning streak at the ATP 500 level to 11 matches.
Sinner, making his first appearance in the tournament, dropped only six points throughout the match and responded well when Machac was doing well early in the second set. Sinner missed three match points on return in the ninth game before closing out the contest on serve.
“Today was a little bit worse than yesterday,” Sinner said of the windy conditions.
“It was very windy, so I tried to understand what shots work on both sides, trying to serve also in different ways from both sides. For me it was important to try to keep the intensity very high. I think this today worked very well,” Sinner said during the post-match press conference.
“Obviously, now every day is going to be more and more challenging, but I’m very happy. Tomorrow I have one day off, which I will use to practice, and also to recover, and then we’ll see,” Sinner said.
Italy’s Jannik Sinner serves a ball against Czech Republic’s Tomas Machac. AFP
“You have to adapt to every situation. Physically, I feel good. Every match is going to get tougher, so hopefully I will be ready for the next one.”
Sinner will next face Australia’s Alexei Popyrin, who advanced after defeating Qatari wild card Mubarak Shannan Zayid with ease, with a score of 6-0, 6-2.
Later yesterday, former champion Daniil Medvedev cruised past China’s Juncheng Shang 6-4, 6-2 to book a place in the Round of 16.
The 30-year-old Russian, currently ranked world No 11 and seeded fourth, arrived in Doha having lost to American teenager Learner Tien in the Australian Open fourth round and Ugo Humbert in Rotterdam.
Yesterday, the former world No 1 landed 79% of his first serves and won 79% of those points throughout the 74-minute battle, not allowing Shang to generate a single break point opportunity.
Medvedev will next face the winner of the opening-round match between Tunisian wild card Moez Echargui and Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece.
Sixth seed Jakub Mensik, who recovered from a set down to beat Britain’s Jan Choinski and Arthur Fils, who battled back to seal a three-set victory over Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak, also advanced to the next round of the high-profile event, which offers a total of $2,833,335 in prize money.
