By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Monday April 29, 2024
Sinner was broken three times and struggled with his right hip, but ultimately prevailed in straight sets.
Jannik Sinner wasn’t his usual invincible self on Monday in Madrid, but the second-ranked Italian came through in straight sets nevertheless, defeating Russia’s Pavel Kotov, 6-2, 7-5.
Chalk it up to mental – and physical – toughness.
Sinner was bothered by a nagging right hip issue, but fought through the problem and kept his eye on the prize as he improved to 27-2 on the season and set a fourth-round match with Karen Khachanov on Tuesday.
Sinner was broken three times by the 25-year-old World No.72, but kept things under control even as he was obviously concerned about his hip at times during the match.
“I struggle now a little bit in the last period with my right hip,” he said. “We are trying to find a solution, I think it’s nothing serious but I can feel it and sometimes I feel it more, like today, and some days it is a little bit better – I have a good team behind me and we’ll try to get my body going for tomorrow. “And then we’ll decide for me what’s best for me and what’s best for the body.”
Sinner reaches the fourth round in Madrid for the first time, and improves to 5-1 on clay thus far in 2024. He reached the semifinals at Monte-Carlo before falling to Stefano Tsitispas, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
The 22-year-old owns a 48-21 lifetime record on clay.
“Every day is different,” Sinner said. “I played two matches with the roof closed. The feeling with the ball was actually better than the first match but it was still a very complicated match.”
Sinner earned six breaks from 13 opportunities in the match. He trailed by a break in the second set but broke for 5-all, forcing a Kotov forehand error, then broke again, converting his third match point to close out the contest as he took the final four games on the trot.
Sinner finished with 22 winners and 22 unforced errors, while Kotov hit 14 winners against 21 unforced errors.
“In the first set we had a lot of breaks,” Sinner said. “I tried somehow to hold my serve a little bit even when I was behind in the score, and then at the end I served a little bit better, I felt more comfortable.”