Sinner does the bare minimum

At a pleasant and unusually cool 22 degrees for Melbourne, Jannik Sinner and Joao Sousa (ATP 140) entered the newly built KIA Arena, which had only been inaugurated the day before. Not many spectators came to the first round match, but at least the fans who were there stood united behind the young South Tyrolean. He didn't present himself from his best side in his third Australian Open participation, but he mastered the task without any major problems. Sinner prevailed in three sets with 6:4, 7:5 and 6:1.

In the early rounds of a Grand Slam it is not necessary to play your best tennis. It's more about finding the rhythm and saving grains. Sinner took this to heart on Tuesday afternoon (local time). He started with the handbrake on: Although the serve and return worked well, he made too many mistakes in the rally. Especially when Sousa slowed the game down, Sinner's balls usually flew out of bounds. Due to the large technical difference between the two opponents, the man from Sexten nevertheless gained a 5:2 lead, which he used in a roundabout way to win the set. He recorded six winning strokes and 13 errors in the first section. It will be exciting The lead gave the world number 10. Apparently he had wings: right at the start of the second set he took the serve from Sousa and seemed to be well on his way to overtaking his opponent. A bad game in which he allowed himself to be broken despite a 30-0 lead prevented that from happening. Suddenly the tennis aces met on equal terms, with Sousa having to fight significantly more in his service games. And so Sinner closed the bag with the score at 6:5 - after previously missing two break points.

Joao Sousa held on bravely. © ANSA / JASON O'BRIEN

Sousa's mood now changed, as he was equal for almost two sentences - but without being rewarded for it. The dangerous forehand now landed outside the rectangle more often, he no longer used the unpleasant slice as often and the serve did not have the desired effect. Sinner punished this consistently in the style of a top 10 player. He easily escaped to 5:1 and wrapped up the game with an ace after just over two hours.

This means Sinner is in the second round of the Australian Open for the second time in his career. There he will now face the American Steve Johnson (ATP 104), who eliminated the Australian Jordan Thompson (ATP 73) in a five-set thriller in the first round.

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Sinner does the bare minimum

Didn't shine, but still won: The Australian Open started for Jannik Sinner on Tuesday with a success that the 20-year-old probably imagined would be a little easier.

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