Jannik Sinner gave another reminder of his development as a grass-court talent Tuesday at the Terra Wortmann Open in Halle, where the 21-year-old began his maiden campaign at the ATP 500 with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 triumph against Richard Gasquet.
Playing in just his 12th tour-level match on grass, Sinner overcame a tough challenge from Gasquet with consistent, clean baseline hitting, particularly in the first and third sets. Despite a strong fightback from Gasquet, who notched his 600th career win by defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas in Stuttgart last week, the Italian finished with 41 winners to Gasquet’s 25 in his 31st tour-level win of the season.
“[Grass] is a surface where I feel like I still have to learn maybe the most amount of all the three surfaces,” Sinner, who reached the quarter-finals in ‘s-Hertogenbosch last week, told ATPTour.com after the match. “On the other hand, I guess it’s a positive thing. The last days after ‘s-Hertogenbosch I practised many hours, trying to feel my game, trying to feel my movement.
“I felt today I was moving much better today than the last match. Every match is good and positive. I win or I learn, and even if I win I try to learn. Today I had a lot of chances in the second set, I couldn’t use them, but still I reacted well in the third seat.”
With his two-hour, 29-minute victory, Sinner improved to 12-0 in opening-round matches for 2023. He now leads Gasquet 2-0 in the pair’s ATP Head2Head series after defeating the Frenchman in straight sets in Indian Wells in March.
The 21-year-old Sinner will take on countryman Lorenzo Sonego next after the World No. 39 also came through in three sets against Aslan Karatsev. Sonego triumphed 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 in what was also his main-draw debut in Halle.
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Following Sinner and Gasquet onto OWL Arena were Andrey Rublev and Wu Yibing. The third-seeded Rublev was made to battle to join his fellow Top 10 star Sinner in the second round but ultimately prevailed 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-2.
Rublev earned his best result on grass by reaching the championship match in Halle in 2021, and the 25-year-old showed how effective his powerful groundstrokes can be on the surface as he pulled Wu around the court to great effect. Rublev converted five of the 11 break points he earned as he refused to allow Wu to settle on serve.
The Chinese World No. 59 Wu, playing just his second pro tournament on grass after he reached the second round in Stuttgart last week, raised his level to claim the second-set tie-break but could not maintain his momentum as Rublev clinched a two-hour, 13-minute victory.
Rublev’s second-round opponent will be Yannick Hanfmann, who earlier prevailed 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in a battle of home favourites with Louis Wessels. The 31-year-old Hanfmann, who is at a career-high No. 53 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, defeated Rublev in the pair’s most recent ATP Head2Head meeting in Rome last month.
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