Washington [US], March 8: Jannik Sinner was relentless in his opening performance at the BNP Paribas Open on Friday, dispatching Czech qualifier Dalibor Svrcina 6-1, 6-1.
Seeking his first Indian Wells trophy, the second seed overwhelmed Svrcina with heavy ballstriking and imposing pace en route to a 64-minute victory.
"I feel mentally I'm in a good place," said Sinner, who was competing for the first time since his Doha defeat to Jakub Mensik.
"I'm calm, I'm relaxed. But I'm also very happy to compete. We did a lot of work. Many, many hours on court. Many hours in the gym. I'm trying to get a little bit stronger (physically). We did double sessions, not many days off at all."
Sinner's best result in the California desert is a semi-final run in 2023 and 2024. Should the 24-year-old triumph this fortnight, he would complete the set of titles at all six hard-court ATP Masters 1000 events.
Sinner played tight to the baseline and forced Svrcina to take a deep court position, allowing the Italian opportunities to move forward and finish points at net. He converted 15 of his 17 net points.
From 1-1 in the opening set, Sinner tallied nine consecutive games before Svrcina won another game. The 24-time tour-level titlist, who is five victories shy of his 100th ATP Masters 1000 match win, improved to 8-2 this season.
Sinner next faces Canadian Denis Shapovalov, who ousted 29th seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(5).
The lefty crushed 43 winners against the Argentine and came to net 22 times, converting 15 of those points.
Source: Qatar Tribune
