Sinner overcomes hampered De Jong in Rome

Four sets played, four sets won for Jannik Sinner on his return to Tour this week at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome.

The Italian earned victory in his first match for more than three months on Saturday against Mariano Navone and backed that up on Monday with another stable display against Dutch lucky loser Jesper de Jong, advancing 6-4, 6-2.

In front of a vocal Italian crowd on Campo Centrale, Sinner let slip a break advantage in the first set but responded quickly to move ahead. The World No. 1 then moved through the gears in the second set against De Jong, who injured his right wrist when slipping at 1-3, 40/15 in the second set.

Sinner helped De Jong to his feet before he passed the 24-year-old a towel. The World No. 93 received a medical timeout at 2-3, with his wrist heavily strapped. The Dutchman, who beat Joao Fonseca in Estoril last month, could continue but was heavily hampered, frequently shaking out his wrist between points.

"It was a completely different match from the first one, different conditions," Sinner said. "I felt like I started the match very well and then I had a drop and he played a bit better. I tried to understand what was going on and fortunately I broke him at 4-4 again, which gave me confidence to continue. The second set went how it went. He injured himself. He is an amazing player and more of an amazing person and I wish him all the best and I hope it is nothing too serious."

With his one-hour, 35-minute win, Sinner extended his winning streak to 23 matches and improved to 61-0 against players ranked outside the Top 20 in the PIF ATP Rankings since the start of the 2023 US Open.

Sinner moved fairly freely and struck the ball with clean timing in just his second match since winning his third major at the Australian Open in January. The top seed was aggressive on return, winning 71 per cent of points on De Jong’s second serve, according to Infosys ATP Stats. He stood close to the baseline to dictate the key points and sealed victory on his first match point.

Into the fourth round in Rome for the fourth time, Sinner will next meet Francisco Cerundolo. The Argentine, a recent semi-finalist in Madrid, defeated Sebastian Ofner 6-2, 6-4. Cerundolo beat Sinner in the pair's previous Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting in Rome in 2023, with the series tied at 2-2 overall.

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