MELBOURNE, Australia — After wasting a set point in the second tiebreaker with an ill-conceived drop shot, Jannik Sinner regained focus quickly Monday and began his Australian Open title defense with a 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5), 6-1 win over Nicolas Jarry.
After all the pre-tournament attention on the 2024 doping cases of Sinner and longtime women’s No. 1 Iga Swiatek, both started the year’s first Grand Slam tournament about the same time on nearby courts on Day 2.
Top-ranked Sinner had to grind for two long, tiebreak sets against No. 35-ranked Jarry, a 29-year-old from Chile, before hitting his stride in the third with two service breaks on Rod Laver Arena.
Sinner has won 14 of his last 16 tiebreaks; he’s the second top-seeded man in the Open Era to play a tiebreak in each of his first two sets of a major, joining Rafael Nadal (2010 US Open vs. Teymuraz Gabashvili).
“It was a very close one because the first sets, they can go both ways,” Sinner said after extending his winning streak to 16 matches dating back to October, including 14 consecutive straight-set victories. “In the third set when I broke it the first time, that gave me a little bit of room to breathe.
“I’m happy how I handled the very tough situation.”
Sinner has got a good…
, 7-6 (5), 6-1 win over Chile's Nicolas Jarry on Monday.){kind=link}