Sinner extends winning streak to 17, reaches Indian Wells R4

The Jannik Sinner train shows no signs of slowing down.

The Italian cruised past 25th seed Jan-Lennard Struff 6-3, 6-4 on Sunday afternoon to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open and extend his winning streak to 17 matches.

"I tried to take some confidence and obviously tried to serve very well under pressure, which I [did] very well today," Sinner said.

Sinner is undefeated in 2024 (14-0) and behind titles at the Australian Open and Rotterdam is up to No. 2 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings. He will face 16th seed Ben Shelton for a place in the Indian Wells quarter-finals.

Keep THAT on the menu 🤤@janniksin | @BNPPARIBASOPEN | #TennisParadise pic.twitter.com/DmzgW7wywn

— ATP Tour (@atptour) March 10, 2024

Struff first discovered Sinner when he read an article about the Italian winning an ATP Challenger Tour title in Bergamo in 2019 and later trained with him in Monte-Carlo. Five years later, the pair opened their Lexus ATP Head2Head series and it was the favourite Sinner who prevailed behind a dominant service performance.

"It's pretty tough," Sinner said of facing an opponent for the first time. "I knew that he's a big server and going for shots, so I tried to stay as aggressive as he was."

The 22-year-old saved all three break points he faced according to Infosys ATP Stats and won a higher percentage of his second-serve points (76%) than Struff did first-serve points (73%). He converted two of his four break point chances to advance after 74 minutes.

Sinner’s forehand was straight fire 🔥 @tennis_insights | #ShotQuality pic.twitter.com/5CJzzZrT8i

— ATP Tour (@atptour) March 11, 2024

Earlier in the day, 10th seed Alex de Minaur maintained his hot streak with a 7-5, 6-0 victory against 20th seed Alexander Bublik 7-5, 6-0.

The Australian is fresh off capturing an ATP 500 title in Acapulco. His next opponent will be sixth seed Alexander Zverev after the German defeated 27th seed Tallon Griekspoor 7-6(7), 6-3.

Zverev, who is into the fourth round in Indian Wells for the fourth time, saved two sets points in the first-set tie-break. The No. 6 player in the PIF ATP Rankings is chasing his first title of the season.

Did You Know?
This is Sinner’s fourth appearance at Indian Wells and he has advanced to the fourth round on each occasion. Last year he made his deepest run in the California desert by making the semi-finals (l. to Alcaraz).