Jannik Sinner of Italy celebrates a point against Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece during their second round match at ABN AMRO Open tennis tournament in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 16 February 2023. EPA/Sander Koning
Jannik Sinner buzzing after maiden top three win
Jannik Sinner earned a landmark victory over world No 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas at the Rotterdam Open.
Jannik Sinner of Italy celebrates a point against Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece during their second round match at ABN AMRO Open tennis tournament in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 16 February 2023. EPA/Sander Koning
Jannik Sinner earned a landmark victory over world No 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas at the Rotterdam Open.
Sinner had lost his last four meetings with Tsitsipas, but he snapped that streak to earn his second win in the seven matches between the two.
Jannik Sinner abuzz after first top three win
He powered past Tsitsipas with an accurate service game that gave the Greek no chance to get a foothold in the match.
Sinner said of the biggest win of his career by measure of the ATP Rankings: “It means a lot obviously.
“A lot of work behind. I’m very happy. I played some good tennis, very focussed today. Hopefully I can keep it going but for sure, Stef is an incredible player. I have a lot of respect for him. He played incredible tennis this year already.
“I was looking forward to this match to be honest, after my win yesterday already. So I’m very happy about my performance today.”
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Sinner feels like he got some of his own back on Tsistipas after losing a five-set thriller when they met in the fourth round of the 2023 Australian Open.
“Head-to-head I am still far back to him,” Sinner said. “For me this is a very important win. I lost a tough one in Australia, where I felt like I was playing great. Today I was also playing good.”
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Sinner will now face the prospect of taking on a former world No 1 in Stan Wawrinka.
“I’m very happy that he is playing again at a very, very high level,” Sinner said of the 37-year-old. “I played last year at Wimbledon against him. He has improved a lot from that point. I know him quite well. He is a hard worker. It’s going to be a tough march for sure.”
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The 21-year-old, who fell to Tsitsipas in five sets in one of their Australian Open encounters, defeated the Greek for the first time since 2020 by dominating on serve and in the return game. After one hour and 21 minutes, Sinner secured his third break and the match with a backhand passing shot.
Sinner won 89% of his first-serve points and converted on three of his four break points.
Tsitsipas was unable to force a single break point against Sinner’s imperious serve.
Dutch hopes star in Rotterdam
Gijs Brouwer of the Netherlands defeated fourth seed Holger Rune of Denmark in the day’s final match when the Dane retired due to a right wrist injury while behind 4-6, 0-4.
The American-born Brouwer, who advanced to his second ATP Tour quarterfinal, will receive a new ATP Ranking on Monday that will be a career-high. The 26-year-old has climbed 45 spots this week to No. 115 in the ATP Live Rankings and may enter the Top 100 with a victory over fellow wildcard Tallon Griekspoor, a Dutch compatriot.
Since Raemon Sluiter and Sjeng Schalken in 2003, the Dutch duo is the first group of players from the Netherlands to make it to the Rotterdam quarters. Since Igor Sijsling in 2014, the winner will represent the Netherlands in the competition’s semifinals.
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