Jannik Sinner emphatically ended his four-match losing streak against Stefanos Tsitsipas with a 6-4, 6-3 win on Thursday night at the ABN AMRO Open. The Rotterdam victory is the Italian’s first against a Top 3 opponent.
The 21-year-old, who lost in five sets to Tsitsipas in one of the matches of the Australian Open, used a dominant serving performance and an aggressive return game to earn his first win against the Greek since 2020. Sinner won 89 per cent of his first-serve points and converted on three of his four break points, a backhand passing shot clinching his third break and the match after one hour, 21 minutes. He did not face a break point.
“It means a lot obviously,” Sinner said of the biggest win of his career by measure of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. “A lot of work behind. I’m very happy. I played some good tennis, very focussed today. Hopefully I can keep it going but for sure, Stef is an incredible player. I have a lot of respect for him. He played incredible tennis this year already.
“I was looking forward to this match to be honest, after my win yesterday already. So I’m very happy about my performance today.”
Sinner improved to 2-5 in his ATP Head2Head against Tsitsipas, the top seed in Rotterdam. After three straight-set defeats from 2021-22, the Italian has turned around their rivalry this season, winning four of the past five sets. He fell just short in a five-set thriller in the Australian Open fourth round, but left nothing to chance in a comprehensive victory at the ATP 500.
“Head-to-head I am still far back to him,” Sinner said. “For me this is a very important win. I lost a tough one in Australia, where I felt like I was playing great. Today I was also playing good.”
Up two places to No. 12 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings this week, Sinner will meet Stan Wawrinka in Friday’s quarter-finals. The Swiss defeated Richard Gasquet 6-3, 6-3 on Wednesday and has not dropped a set — or his serve — in two Rotterdam matches.
“I’m very happy that he is playing again at a very, very high level,” Sinner said of the 37-year-old. “I played last year at Wimbledon against him. He has improved a lot from that point. I know him quite well. He is a hard worker. It’s going to be a tough march for sure.”
In the final match of the day, Dutch wild card Gijs Brouwer moved past fourth seed Holger Rune when the Dane retired with a right-wrist injury while trailing 4-6, 0-4.
Through to his second ATP Tour quarter-final (Houston 2022), the American-born Brouwer is guaranteed a new career-high Pepperstone ATP Ranking on Monday. The 26-year-old has soared 45 places to No. 115 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings this week and could break into the Top 100 with a quarter-final win against countryman and fellow wild card Tallon Griekspoor.
The Dutch duo is the first pair of players from the Netherlands to reach the Rotterdam quarters since Raemon Sluiter and Sjeng Schalken in 2003. The winner will become the first Dutch semi-finalist at the event since Igor Sijsling in 2014.
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