Sinner defeats the Spanish calf biter

Instead of playing as originally planned, the game took place not on Court 7, but on the slightly larger Court 14 - and in slow, cool conditions. Sinner never got along with that throughout the game, unlike Carballes Baena, who showed textbook clay court tennis. However, because there are several classes between the two players, the favorite ultimately prevailed. After a botched opening set, Sinner won 3:6, 6:4, 6:4, 6:3. In the third round, Simone Vagnozzi's protégé will now face Mackenzie McDonald (ATP 60), who defeated Nikoloz Basilashvili (ATP 24) in three sets.

At the beginning everything went as usual. Sinner dictated the game, chased the Spaniard around the court, but missed several break points during his service games. That threw the South Tyrolean out of his concept: In the long rallies, he couldn't find a way against the strongly defending Carballes Baena - also due to the conditions. This increased the pressure on Sinner's serve. However, this let him down: he hit too few first serves and therefore got almost no free points. The result? Sinner lost three service games in a row in the first set and thus also lost the set 3:6. Sinner fights back Carballes Baena also had the upper hand at the start of the second section. The man from Tenerife won two break points right at the start, but left them unused. Sinner somehow saved himself and gained self-confidence. Although not everything was going smoothly, he now played a little more freely. The number of errors decreased and the number of winners increased. The 20-year-old managed a valuable break, which he defended with difficulty until the end of the set, as he had to fend off three break points in the final game.

Roberto Carballes Baena showed great tennis. © ANSA / YOAN VALAT

From this point on, the match changed: the Sesto player's serves went smoothly - also thanks to increased aggressiveness - while Carballe's Baena was always put under pressure. And so he received a break right at the start of the third set. When the score was 3:1, Sinner even had the chance to make it 4:1, but carelessly missed it. Since the man from Sexten was now serving with a serve rate of 80 percent, repeatedly interspersed the stop and Carballes Baena also slacked off a bit, this didn't take revenge. Sinner defended his lead and won the round 6:4. After around two and a half hours the fourth set began. Things only get tricky for a short time This started with two setbacks: First, Sinner lost an important point after he hit the net during a volley. Shortly afterwards he had to take a break, even though he was already leading 40:15 in the game and didn't use a simple smash. This angered the South Tyrolean so much that he threw his racket on the ground in a rage. With the best point of the match, which he concluded with a cracking backhand, he quickly got the break back. Driven by the fans, who were almost entirely on Sinners' side, he went one better and took the lead 3-2 with a break.

The Spaniard's steps, who had survived a five-set match in the first round, now became heavier. But the blatant outsider didn't think about giving up. With the score at 2:4 from his point of view, he destroyed five break points in an eternally long game before immediately leading 30:0 on Sinner's serve. But the world number 12. kept a cool head – and made everything clear with his first match point a few moments later.

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Sinner defeats the Spanish calf biter

He had to toil for almost four hours, but in the end the only thing that counts is victory: Jannik Sinner is in the third round of the French Open thanks to a real show of strength.

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