No. 1 Jannik Sinner launched his Australian Open title defense with a 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5), 6-1 win over Chile’s Nicolas Jarry on Monday.
It was Sinner’s 15th consecutive major win on hard court as he became the fourth man since 2000 to win that many Grand Slam hard-court matches in a row, following Andre Agassi, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
The Italian has won 29 consecutive sets dating back to the third round of the Shanghai Masters.
“First of all, I’m very, very happy to be back here so thank you very much for coming,” Sinner told the crowd. “The atmosphere has been amazing.
“(Jarry is) an incredible player, huge potential. I’m happy how I handled a very tough situation in the first couple of sets, happy to be in the next round.”
Jarry proved hard to shake, doggedly holding serve through the first two sets but struggling in the tiebreaks.
Sinner sealed the opening-set tiebreak with an ace after earning four set points with sharp work at the net.
Jarry then saved two set points in the second-set tiebreak, but folded on the third with a wild backhand.
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).
Sinner all but settled the match by breaking Jarry’s serve in the second game of the final set before cruising to victory.
He will next face either Japan‘s Taro Daniel or local wild card Tristan Schoolkate for a place in the third round.
ESPN Research and Reuters contributed to this report.
Source: espn.com