Sinner Saves MP To Oust Hurkacz In Monte-Carlo

Jannik Sinner braved blustery conditions and a strong charge from Hubert Hurkacz to seal a third-round victory on Thursday at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters.

The seventh-seeded Italian trailed Hurkacz by a set and a break at 3-6, 1-2 but rallied to a 3-6, 7-6(6), 6-1 triumph at the clay-court ATP Masters 1000 event. Even after recovering his early deficit in the second set, Sinner was on the brink of defeat when trailing 5/6 in the second-set tie-break. Yet he reeled off three points in a row to save the match point and clinch the second set before dominating the decider on Court Rainier III.

“It was a very tough match,” said Sinner after improving to 23-5 for the year. “Playing against him, I knew already from the beginning that it was very tough to get into the rhythm. I think he served incredible in the first one and a half sets, and when I broke him the first time the momentum changed a little bit.

“He also had match point. These kinds of matches can go both ways, I’m happy that it went my way, and happy that I can play at least one more match [here].”

Despite striking 25 winners to Hurkacz’s 31, Sinner was defiant at key moments on the way to levelling his ATP Head2Head series with the Pole at 2-2. The 21-year-old saved six of eight break points he faced and broke his opponent four times across the second and third sets of his two-hour, 27-minute victory.

“I can feel the energy of the crowd," said Sinner, when asked about the vocal Italian contingent in the Monte-Carlo crowd. "There are a lot of Italians here and they helped me a lot, especially when I’m in a very tough situation on the court. This helps me, and I try to get a lot of energy from that. Let’s see what’s coming from the next round.”

Sinner has now reached the quarter-final stage at six of the seven events he has played this season. His quarter-final opponent in the Principality will be World No. 1 Novak Djokovic or Lorenzo Musetti.