Jannik Sinner drops rare set en route to Australian Open third round
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Jannik Sinner celebrates winning his match against Tristan Schoolkate at the Australian Open.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
MELBOURNE – World No. 1 Jannik Sinner dropped a set for the first time in 14 matches, before surging back on Jan 16 to keep his Australian Open title defence on track.
The top seed had no answers at the start against Australian wildcard Tristan Schoolkate, ranked 173rd, but found his groove to win 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-3 on centre court.
It was his 16th consecutive victory in an ominous sign for next opponent Marcos Giron in the third round.
The American punched his ticket by beating Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry, who was the last person before Schoolkate to take a set off Sinner.
That was back in October at the Shanghai Masters. Since then, Sinner had won 29 consecutive sets.
“It’s always tough to play against a player I don’t know very well,” he said. “I felt like he was serving really well, playing much better in the beginning than I was.
“But I am still very happy with my performance. You can never take things for granted so very glad to be in the next round. It was a very tough match. I can improve, yes.”
The 23-year-old, who is defending a Grand Slam title for the first time after his five-set win against Daniil Medvedev in last year’s final, was out of sorts initially.
Schoolkate belied his ranking, going toe-to-toe in the first set and stunning Sinner by breaking to love at 5-4 when the Italian slammed a forehand into the net.
Sinner’s serve was not firing and he uncharacteristically committed eight unforced errors while hitting just six winners.
But he slowly started to get the measure of his opponent, who is making his Australian Open debut, and broke to love with a forehand winner to take a 4-3 lead in the second set.
Schoolkate’s resolve faded and a net winner from Sinner gave him an immediate break in the third set as he won four games in a row to take the match out of reach.
The fourth set was a formality with Sinner in the zone.
He is favourite to lift the trophy again at Melbourne Park after a sensational 2024 that saw him become the top-ranked player in men’s tennis.
Along with the Australian Open title, he added the US Open and ATP Finals crowns, winning eight tournaments in 2024.
In earlier matches, American Taylor Fritz swept through to a third-round clash against Gael Monfils with a brutal display of power hitting and has dropped just eight games in the tournament so far.
The fourth seed was untouchable on Margaret Court Arena, defeating Chilean qualifier Cristian Garin 6-2, 6-1, 6-0.
“Always feels great to come out and play a match like that,” said Fritz, the 2024 US Open finalist who has yet to drop his serve in this tournament as he chases a first Major crown.
“I played well in my first round too so I’ll be high on confidence going into the third round.”
The supremely talented 18-year-old rising star Joao Fonseca of Brazil has been tipped for the top by Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic.
But having stunned ninth seed Andrey Rublev in straight sets in the first round, the teenager went down fighting, Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego pulling through 6-7 (6-8), 6-3, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 to disappoint the vocal Brazilian fans.
Sonego’s reward is a clash against Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan, who took down 17th seed Frances Tiafoe in five sets. AFP
