
Jannik Sinner lost a set in a tour-level match for the first time since early October on Thursday at the Australian Open. The top seed and defending champion’s response was emphatic.
Sinner rallied for a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-3 second-round triumph against home wild card Tristan Schoolkate inside Rod Laver Arena. The No. 173 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Schoolkate delivered a high-quality opening set to raise the possibility of a huge upset, but he was unable to maintain his level as Sinner ultimately eased to a two-hour, 46-minute victory.
“It’s always tough to play against a player I don’t know very well,” Sinner told John McEnroe in his on-court interview. “I felt like he was serving very well. He was playing much better in the beginning than I was. Obviously with the crowd, it was an amazing atmosphere.
“It’s a very special place, especially for Australians to play here with the home crowd, but I have to be very happy still with my performance. I never take things for granted, so I’m very happy to again be in the next round.”
World No. 1 things 😤@janniksin motors into the third round, defeating Schoolkate 4-6 6-4 6-1 6-3.@AustralianOpen | #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/edCh8daSWA
— ATP Tour (@atptour) January 16, 2025
Sinner won 16 of the final 21 games from 2-3 in the second set for his 16th consecutive tour-level win. The World No. 1 particularly raised his level on return to forge his comeback: He did not earn a break point until the seventh game of the second set, but then proceeded to break his opponent five times en route to victory in their maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting.
“Every round here is very tough,” said Sinner. “Everyone who is in the first round, or second round, or third round deserves to be there. It was a very tough match. I can improve. We saw today I was struggling a bit with the wind and it was quite breezy. But I’ll take it, and it was a good chance to play here in the evening, in a night session on such a beautiful court. It was amazing.”
Bidding to become the lowest-ranked player to defeat Sinner at a Grand Slam, Schoolkate made a rock-solid start on his Rod Laver Arena debut. The 23-year-old regularly moved forward to try and avoid going toe-to-toe with Sinner from the baseline, and he won 94 per cent (17/18) of points at the net in the opening set, according to Infosys Stats.
The home crowd let out a huge roar when Schoolkate broke Sinner to love to end his opponent's streak of consecutive sets won at 29, but he could not maintain his momentum once the Italian did the same on return for a 4-3 lead in the second set. From there, the gulf in class between the two players became more apparent, and Sinner crucially finished the match with an unforced error tally of 29 to Schoolkate’s 52.
Thursday’s triumph was another example of how mentally strong Sinner is when up against a partisan crowd: The 23-year-old is now 14-0 against opponents competing at their home major. Next up for Sinner in Melbourne is a fourth-round meeting with American Marcos Giron, whom he defeated in straight sets in their only previous tour-level meeting last October in Shanghai.
“It’s definitely a different feeling,” said Sinner, when asked about defending a Grand Slam title for the first time. “But so many different beautiful moments happened to me here, on and off the court, here in this beautiful place. It’s different, but I take it as a chance to hopefully do it again. It’s still a very long way to go. We go day by day. Seeing my level today, we know that we can improve, which is the most important. Hopefully I can show this in the next round and it will be again a great tournament for me.”