Sinner cruises past De Jong to reach third round – Australian Open highlights
Jannik Sinner breezed into the Australian Open third round with a straight-sets win over qualifier Jesper de Jong.
With the roof on Margaret Court Arena shut, the Italian looked at home in the predictable conditions and did not face a single break point in a dominant 6-2 6-2 6-2 victory.
Sinner is one of the favourites for the title at Melbourne Park after his stunning finish to 2023, which included a first Masters 1000 title at the Canadian Open and two wins over world No. 1 Novak Djokovic.
After the first four games stayed on serve, Sinner broke his rival in the fifth game before reeling off three more on the spin – including a mammoth seventh game for 5-2 – to take the opening set.
The 22-year-old was proving unbreakable from the back of the court, enticing De Jong to go for bigger and bigger shots, and he broke again at 1-1 in the second set when the Dutchman went long.
Soon 1-1 had become 5-1, and although De Jong fought back from 0-30 in his next service game to add some respectability to the set, it was not long before Sinner was celebrating a two-set lead.
With that, any remaining De Jong resistance vanished. The world No. 4 broke twice more at the start of the third set and duly served out the match at the first opportunity.
Sinner on his ‘not Baywatch’ physique after victory at Australian Open
“For me, they can play the whole tournament indoors,” Sinner, who had superfans the ‘Carota Boys’ again in attendance, joked on court afterwards.
“For sure, it’s a little bit different. The first match was a little bit windy. The weather is good. We’re in Australia, back in Europe it’s very cold weather so I think we’re all very happy to play here.”
Should he continue untroubled in Melbourne, Sinner is projected to meet home favourite Alex de Minaur – a 6-3 6-0 6-3 winner over Italian Matteo Arnaldi on Wednesday – in the quarter-finals before a potential semi-final showdown with Djokovic.
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