Sensational Sinner shines in Indian Wells opener

Jannik Sinner’s sizzling form has arrived in the California desert.

The Italian on Friday showed no mercy to oust Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-3, 6-0 in the BNP Paribas Open second round to extend his season record to 13-0.

"I felt like it was a bit breezy today, so it was tough to play, especially in the beginning because for me it's my first match here," Sinner said. "I think I can be very happy. He's a great opponent, a great player. He serves really, really big."

Sinner was dominant from the baseline, specifically in the ad-court, where he resembled a brick wall off his backhand wing while waiting to crush run-around forehands.

The 22-year-old fought off Kokkinakis' lone break point at 2-2 in the opening set by hammering a 103 mph inside-in forehand winner. Sinner then found success by retreating his position on Kokkinakis’ second serve, buying him time to engage in rallies. He broke the World No. 99’s serve in a nine-minute eighth game and never looked back after a 54-minute opening set. 

Sinner produced a squeaky clean second set, in which he lost the opening point before winning 13 consecutive points. Sinner won the final nine games of the match and dropped just five points across the second set.

Starting @BNPPARIBASOPEN with pure fire off the ground 🔥@janniksin has the 2nd best Fh & Bh #ShotQuality averages on tour, but today he was even better 👏#TennisInsights | @atptour | @BNPPARIBASOPEN pic.twitter.com/bcs8fXziWr

— Tennis Insights (@tennis_insights) March 8, 2024

Seeking his first Indian Wells trophy, Sinner has won 26 of his past 27 matches overall, with his maiden major triumph coming at the Australian Open and another title run in Rotterdam.

"You always can set goal after goal and then when you reach one goal, try to work hard for the next goal," Sinner said. "I feel like I still have to improve many things. Starting on court, the serve I also have to improve and trying to mix up the game. We worked before coming here a lot in the gym. These are the things that push me to do better and hopefully I can show this also on the court."

At No. 2 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, Sinner next plays 25th seed Jan-Lennard Struff after the German beat Borna Coric 6-7(3), 6-2, 7-6(9). Struff saved three match points in the third-set tie-break. The 12-time tour-level titlist Sinner, who is seeking his second ATP Masters 1000 crown, is seeded to meet Ben Shelton in the fourth round and in the quarters fifth seed Andrey Rublev.

Alex de Minaur also kept alive his streak of six straight wins by cruising past Japan’s Taro Daniel 6-1, 6-2. The 58-minute victory marked De Minaur's second victory against Daniel in as many weeks, having also defeated the Japanese No. 2 last week en route to the Acapulco title. The Australian leads their Lexus ATP Head2Head series 4-0. 

De Minaur next faces Alexander Bublik. The 26-year-old swept past Chinese #NextGenATP Shang Juncheng 6-4, 6-1.

The 25-year-old De Minaur is defending just 45 points through the end of Monte-Carlo, strengthening his chances of pushing past his career-high No. 9 in the PIF ATP Rankings. 

"Last year I did really well in Acapulco but came here and didn't really find my game and had early exits in both Indian Wells and Miami," De Minaur told Tennis Channel after the match. "A lot of the focus this year was to not make the same mistakes, so I'm really happy to get a win on the board and hopefully have a lot more wins."

Felix Auger-Aliassime defeated French qualifier Constant Lestienne 6-4, 6-1 after he won 23 of his 27 first-serve points and fended off all three break points he faced.

The Canadian, who is the 31st seed, awaits defending champion Carlos Alcaraz. Last year, Alcaraz downed Auger-Aliassime in the Indian Wells quarter-finals.