Jannik Sinner is digging deep on the Halle grass at the Terra Wortmann Open.
The fourth seed held off the powerful Lorenzo Sonego on Thursday for a 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-4 second-round triumph at the ATP 500. Sinner saved all eight break points he faced in an intriguing two-hour, 52-minute encounter inside OWL Arena to reach his ninth tour-level quarter-final of the year.
“It was a tough match for sure,” said Sinner after the match. “He had a lot of chances, me also in the first set. I made a couple of mistakes in the tie-break but that can happen. On grass courts it’s never easy, and the way I reacted, especially mentally, I guess I did a good job. Obviously playing against him is never easy.”
Forehand catching 🔥 & helping to turn the match around @janniksin gets past Sonego in 3 sets. His Fh #ShotQuality rising from a 6.5 in set 1 to a 9.0 & 9.1 in sets 2 & 3 💪#TennisInsights | @atptour | @ATPHalle pic.twitter.com/94uizNtu1a
— Tennis Insights (@tennis_insights) June 22, 2023
Sonego deployed his big serving and aggressive groundstrokes to great effect to claim the first-set tie-break and threaten an upset of his higher-ranked countryman. However, Sinner’s high-class movement around the court helped him notch crucial breaks mid-way through both the second and third sets as he completed a comeback win and improved to 2-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series against Sonego.
It was the second three-set win in a row on event debut for Sinner, who was pushed the distance by Richard Gasquet in his opening match. The 21-year-old will next play Alexander Bublik, and he is not concerned about the fact he has spent more than five hours on court for his opening two wins.
“[I’ve played a lot of hours for] these couple of matches but it’s better,” said Sinner, who reached his first tour-level quarter-final on grass in ‘s-Hertogenbosch last week. “I can touch more balls on the grass courts and hopefully it can give me a lot of confidence.”
Bublik booked his spot in the last eight with a 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3 victory against home favourite Jan-Lennard Struff. The Kazakhstani powered 43 winners, including 23 aces in an outstanding serving performance, as he advanced to his second tour-level quarter-final of the season.
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