Sinner Overhauls Sonego In Halle

Jannik Sinner is digging deep on the Halle grass at the Terra Wortmann Open.

The fourth seed held off the powerful Lorenzo Sonego on Thursday for a 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-4 second-round triumph at the ATP 500. Sinner saved all eight break points he faced in an intriguing two-hour, 52-minute encounter inside OWL Arena to reach his ninth tour-level quarter-final of the year.

“It was a tough match for sure,” said Sinner after the match. “He had a lot of chances, me also in the first set. I made a couple of mistakes in the tie-break but that can happen. On grass courts it’s never easy, and the way I reacted, especially mentally, I guess I did a good job. Obviously playing against him is never easy.”

Forehand catching 🔥 & helping to turn the match around @janniksin gets past Sonego in 3 sets. His Fh #ShotQuality rising from a 6.5 in set 1 to a 9.0 & 9.1 in sets 2 & 3 💪#TennisInsights | @atptour | @ATPHalle pic.twitter.com/94uizNtu1a

— Tennis Insights (@tennis_insights) June 22, 2023

Sonego deployed his big serving and aggressive groundstrokes to great effect to claim the first-set tie-break and threaten an upset of his higher-ranked countryman. However, Sinner's high-class movement around the court helped him notch crucial breaks mid-way through both the second and third sets as he completed a comeback win and improved to 2-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series against Sonego.

It was the second three-set win in a row on event debut for Sinner, who was pushed the distance by Richard Gasquet in his opening match. The 21-year-old will next play Alexander Bublik, and he is not concerned about the fact he has spent more than five hours on court for his opening two wins.

“[I’ve played a lot of hours for] these couple of matches but it’s better," said Sinner, who reached his first tour-level quarter-final on grass in 's-Hertogenbosch last week. "I can touch more balls on the grass courts and hopefully it can give me a lot of confidence.”

Bublik booked his spot in the last eight with a 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3 victory against home favourite Jan-Lennard Struff. The Kazakhstani powered 43 winners, including 23 aces in an outstanding serving performance, as he advanced to his second tour-level quarter-final of the season.