Jannik Sinner withstood a challenging opening set from Christopher O’Connell Tuesday before finding his best form in the second, defeating the Australian 6-4, 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals of the Miami Open presented by Itau.
The second-seeded Italian powered through O'Connell's difficult variety, which ranged from heavy backhand slices to taking the ball early and rushing forward, to advance to his fourth consecutive Miami quarter-final after one hour, 51 minutes.
“Today was much different [than Sunday's match]. Much more windy, so I had to adjust a little bit," Sinner said. "I had some chances even before I broke him, so I know that I was doing the right things. I tried to serve really solid. He made a couple of mistakes in important moments and I think today was the key.”
A pivotal moment for Sinner came when trailing 1-3, 0/30. Last year’s finalist tallied four consecutive points to avoid going down a double break and went on to win five of six games to earn a one-set advantage after 58 minutes.
Sinner broke O’Connell’s serve in the Australian’s first service game of the second set and built upon his momentum, holding the advantage in extended rallies and maintaining an aggressive baseline position to advance.
"He started off really well, I made a couple of mistakes. When you are a break down especially in the beginning, it’s always tough, also mentally,” said Sinner.
The World No. 3 in the PIF ATP Rankings dropped just two points behind his serve in the second set to improve to 1-1 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with the 29-year-old, avenging his 2021 Atlanta loss to O'Connell.
A 12-time tour-level titlist, Sinner boasts a 19-1 season record with titles at the Australian Open and in Rotterdam. Sinner, who has twice reached the Miami final (2021, 2023), is aiming for his second ATP Masters 1000 crown (2023 Toronto).
Sinner will next meet Czech Tomas Machac, who opened the day with a 6-3, 6-3 victory against Italian Matteo Arnaldi.
Machac, 23, is up 18 spots to No. 42 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, guaranteeing his Top 50 debut Monday. The six-time ATP Challenger Tour champion is into his first Masters 1000 quarter-final.
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