ROTTERDAM – Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner knows his rivals will be eager to get a victory over the ATP Tour's newest Grand Slam winner but the Italian showed in his opening round win at the Rotterdam Open on Feb 14 that he welcomes the challenge.
In his first match since coming back from two sets down to beat Daniil Medvedev and win his first Major in January, Sinner cruised to a 6-3, 6-3 win over Botic van de Zandschulp, whom he also beat in the first round at Melbourne Park.
“I’ve been working a lot in Monaco but I wanted to come here and feel the court,” said the world No. 4. “I’m happy to get my first win here over a really great player.
“It’s a little bit different (playing as a Grand Slam champion) and you have to be prepared for your opponents to know you better and know your weaknesses more, so you have to be prepared to work hard and be ready.”
Sinner can climb to a career-high ranking of third if he wins in Rotterdam for his 12th career title, but the 2023 runner-up faces a tricky test against French veteran Gael Monfils in the second round.
“Gael is a very dangerous opponent. It doesn’t matter where you play him. He’ll be a fan favourite for sure, but it’s part of the game and you have to accept it,” Sinner said of the two-time Rotterdam champion.
The top seed has won four of his five career matches against Monfils but is not taking him lightly.
“It’s always a really tough match when we play,” he added. “I saw his first-round match and he played really well.”
It was a day of shocks in Rotterdam as rising star Holger Rune was upset 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 by Alexander Shevchenko in the second round, with the Kazakh hailing the “biggest win” of his career.
The 23-year-old world No. 57 claimed only his second victory against a top-10 player to set up a quarter-final clash against Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov.
Polish fourth seed Hubert Hurkacz was also sent packing by Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor, losing 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-4) to the 29th-ranked player.
Meanwhile, women’s world No. 1 Iga Swiatek reached the Qatar Open quarter-finals for a third successive year on Feb 14 as fellow four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka also made the last eight after Lesia Tsurenko conceded a walkover.
Swiatek, the two-time defending champion at the event, defeated 14th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-1, 6-4.
The Russian battled bravely, saving four match points in the 10th game of the second set before Swiatek came through.
The 22-year-old Pole faced another two-time Doha champion, Victoria Azarenka, in the quarter-finals on Feb 15 – the result was not known at press time.
Former world No. 1 Azarenka beat eighth-seeded Jelena Ostapenko 6-0, 6-3 for her third win over the Latvian in 2024.
Swiatek now has an 11-1 record in Doha, with her lone loss coming to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the second round in 2020.
Osaka faced another former world No. 1, Karolina Pliskova, for a place in the last four on Feb 15, with the match still ongoing at press time.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova qualified for the semi-finals with a 7-5, 6-4 win over American Danielle Collins. The Russian, who had never beaten Collins in their three previous meetings, will meet Elena Rybakina in the last four.
Third seed Rybakina took time to get going but secured a 6-4, 6-2 win over Leylah Fernandez and stay on track for her third title of the season.
REUTERS, AFP
