Jannik Sinner made his debut this Monday at the Australian Open with great success. The Italian, world number 1 and current champion, had more problems than expected defeated Chilean Nicolás Jarry 7-6(2), 7-6(5), 6-1 in a match where he was unable to counter his rival’s strong serve until the third set.
Equality was the dominant note of the match in the first two sets, played from power to power by both. Despite his immense superiority, Sinner was unable to impose his tennis, allowing Jarry to gradually raise his confidence level until he believed he could play him one-on-one.
Only in tiebreaks does it become clear who is the reference player in world tennis at the moment. There the sinner pulls his weight to finally move forward in a situation that threatens to escalate.
Losing in the second set dashed Jarry’s hopes, who promptly collapsed.. Sinner’s break in the second game was absolutely decisive for the fate of the match, which the Italian closed with the solvency he has accustomed us to in recent months.
“I am very happy to be back. I think today is a very close day. Nico is an incredible player. It has enormous potential. I am happy with how I handled a difficult situation in the first sets and in the next round” declared the current champion at the end of the match.
Complicated debut for Sinner, who will now have two days offbecause he asked to be one of the matches that will be presented on Tuesday’s match day. On Thursday they will meet in the second round with the winner of the match between Australian Tristan Schoolkate and Japanese Taro Daniel.
Things were worse for Stefanos Tsitsipas, who was surprised one of the young promises of the circuit, the American Alex Michelsen, who had beaten him last year in Tokyo, and this time won 7-5, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 in a difficult against which his pulse did not tremble at important moments.
A mixture of cunning and delicacy, Michelsen remained calm under pressure in the rallies and found success at the net when he went 2-0 up before Tsitsipas recovered to take the third set.
At 4-4 in the fourth, Michelsen hit a barrage of winning returns to break the serve of Tsitsipas who only showed his true level in the third set.
Careless and out of control of his game, the 2023 finalist collected errors until the last 6-4 of the fourth set which confirmed their elimination from the tournament.
Source: La Verdad
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