Scheduled for a night session Monday evening at the Masters 1000 in Madrid, Jannik Sinner, world number 2, defeated the Russian Pavel Kotov (72nd) in the round of 16 (6-2, 7-5). For a place in the quarters, he will face another Russian this Tuesday, Karen Khachanov (17th).
A man in good shape at the start of 2024 with titles in Miami, Rotterdam and above all a first Grand Slam won, the Australian Open, the 22-year-old Italian did not have to put out any great tennis on Tuesday evening on the clay court Manolo Santana. He even scared himself a little in the second set, when his valiant opponent got himself an equalizing ball with a set everywhere.
Tightening the game, remaining focused on Kotov’s few pranks, including a mischievous spoon serve, Sinner finally escaped without too much damage… Except for a little pain in the hip, as he said. ‘confided at a press conference after his victory: “I’ve been having some problems with my hip lately. It’s not a big deal, but some days, like today, I feel the pain more than others. Luckily I have a great team with me. We’ll see what’s best for my body.”
Far from being his favorite surface, clay can however offer the opportunity for Jannik Sinner to narrow the gap that separates him from Novak Djokovic at the top of the ATP rankings. To do this, we will have to perform well in Rome (May 6-19), and of course at Roland-Garros (May 26-June 9), while hoping for a misstep from the Serb.
Among the other round of 16 in Madrid, Daniil Medvedev (4th) will face Kazakh Alexander Bublik (18th), and Casper Ruud (6th), freshly finalized in Monte-Carlo and titled in Barcelona, against Félix Auger-Aliassime (35th) . Finally, it took more than three hours for Rafael Nadal to overcome the Argentinian Pedro Cachin (91st) 6-1, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3 in the third round. He will face the young Czech Jiri Lehecka (31st) on Tuesday evening.