Sinner triumphs in Rome, Seppi fails

Jannik Sinner is the “winner” again. The young star from Sexten also attracted attention on Sunday at the Foro Italico in Rome at the “Internazionali BNL d'Italia”, the most important tennis tournament in Italy. The 17-year-old, for whom this is his third ATP tournament, met the American Steve Johnson, who is ranked 3th in the ATP list, in the first round.

Sinner, who was allowed to play directly in the main draw in Rome thanks to a wild card, showed an incredible performance at the “Centrale” in the Foro Italico. The world number 262. from Pustertal, on his debut in a Masters 1000 tournament, played excellent tennis and dominated a top player like Johnson for long periods of the game. Sinner even fended off three match points.

Tension at the beginning At the beginning you could still tell that the South Tyrolean was tense. Sinner couldn't get into the game at all and clearly lost the first set 21-6 after just 1 minutes of play. In the second period, Sinner played as if transformed, took the service from Johnson three times and also secured the set 6:1.

The Sexten player, cheered on by numerous fans, missed four break chances to make it 2-1 at the start of the third set, while Johnson took the service from Sinner to make it 3-1 in the following game. Sinner fended off two match points in the eighth game before reducing the score to 3:5. The man from Sexten showed a lot of fighting spirit, won three games in a row and even took the lead 6:5. The “Central” suddenly turned upside down. After 1:50 hours the sensation was perfect: Sinner converted his second match point to make the final score 7:5.

An incredible performance from Sinner, who becomes the second top 100 player in his career after Jiri Vesely. In the second round, the South Tyrolean tennis star will face the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, number 8 on the seeding list and 9 in the world, in the young star duel.

The 17-year-old will receive 45 world ranking points, so he will move up a lot of places. Seppi eliminated For the tennis professional Andreas Seppi from Kaltern, however, the end came. The 35-year-old, who is ranked 67th in the ATP rankings, was defeated 21-1 by the better-placed Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut (ranked 2st) on Sunday evening.

Seppi, currently number 67 in the world, and Bautista Agut faced each other for the third time in their careers, with the 31-year-old Spaniard winning both at the Masters 2012 tournament in Miami in 1000 and at the US Open two seasons ago . Today too, the South Tyrolean Bautista Agut had to give way.

After just 27 minutes, Seppi gave up the first set 1:6 to Bautista Agut. In the second half of the game, the “Azzurro” got better and better into the game and took the service from their opponent for the first time in the eighth game to take a 5:3 lead. In the following game, Seppi was already 40-0 ahead, but missed all three set points and then had to fend off four break points. With his fifth set ball, the Kalterer finally closed the lid to 6:3. In the third, decisive set, Bautista Agut set the tone again: The Spaniard clearly won again 1-44 after 6:1 hours of play. Andreas Seppi had to admit defeat. © GIAMPIERO SPOSITO

The South Tyrolean is still waiting for his first clay court win of the season, having already been eliminated in the first round in Monte Carlo against Lorenzo Sonego, in Budapest against Filip Krajinovic, in Munich against Philipp Kohlschreiber and in Madrid against Gael Monfils. In fact, it was Seppi's seventh first-round defeat in a row this season. Next week the Kalterer will play at the ATP 1 tournament in Geneva.

Seppi is still registered in doubles with compatriot Simone Bolelli. The “Azzurri” had a lot of bad luck and will face the top seeds Lukasz Kubot (POL)/Marcelo Melo (BRA) in round 1.

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Sinner triumphs in Rome, Seppi fails

South Tyrol's new star in the tennis sky continues to shine. At the ATP tournament in Rome, Jannik Sinner won his first round match on Sunday against the favorite Steve Johnson after a real show of strength. The end came for Andreas Seppi.

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