Did Jannik Sinner Triumph Over Injured Jesper de Jong to Advance in Rome?

Rome, May 13 (NationPress) World No. 1 Jannik Sinner continued his comeback from a doping suspension with a convincing straight-sets win against Dutch lucky loser Jesper de Jong in the second round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia (Italian Open) held in Rome.

The Italian player, who secured a victory against Mariano Navone in his first match after a three-month hiatus on Saturday, followed up with another solid performance on Monday, defeating De Jong 6-4, 6-2.

In front of an enthusiastic Italian audience at Campo Centrale, Sinner initially lost a break lead in the opening set but quickly regained the upper hand. He accelerated in the second set against De Jong, who suffered a right wrist injury after slipping at 1-3, 40/15 in the second set.

Sinner assisted De Jong in getting up and handed him a towel. The World No. 93 received a medical timeout at 2-3, with his wrist heavily bandaged. Although he managed to continue, he was significantly affected, often shaking his wrist between points.

With his one-hour and thirty-five-minute victory, Sinner extended his winning streak to 23 matches and improved to 61-0 against players ranked outside the Top 20 in the PIF ATP Rankings since the commencement of the 2023 US Open.

Sinner displayed good movement and hit the ball with precision in just his second match since winning his third major title at the Australian Open in January. The top seed was aggressive on returns, winning 71 percent of points on De Jong’s second serve, as reported by Infosys ATP Stats. He positioned himself close to the baseline to control critical points and clinched the victory on his first match point.

Advancing to the fourth round in Rome for the fourth time, Sinner will face Francisco Cerundolo next. The Argentine, a recent semi-finalist in Madrid, defeated Sebastian Ofner 6-2, 6-4. Cerundolo previously bested Sinner in their last Lexus ATP Head2Head encounter in Rome in 2023, with their series currently tied at 2-2.

In other matches on Monday, sixth seed Casper Ruud from Norway progressed to the Round of 16 after Italian 20th seed Matteo Berrettini retired while trailing 7-5, 2-0. Seventh seed Alex de Minaur of Australia defeated lucky loser Hugo Dellien from Bolivia 6-4, 6-4, while Tommy Paul from the United States triumphed over Tomas Machac from Czechia 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-4 in a two-and-a-half-hour duel.

Also advancing to the next round were Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina, Jakub Mensik of Czechia, Jaume Munar of Spain, and Hubert Hurkacz of Poland, who overcame their respective rivals.