Jannik Sinner Stunned In Front Of Home Crowd In Rome

| by Alfredo Bassanelli

Jannik Sinner lost in the fourth round of the 2023 Italian Open in Rome to a very inspired Francisco Cerundolo.

Playing in front of the home crowd can be very encouraging because of their support but the weight of expectations can be sometimes too heavy. After winning in his first two matches and not even realizing it, while cheered by fans at Foro Italico, Sinner encountered a very difficult challenge in the fourth round.

Ahead of the tournament, the Italian was confident that he can win big matches and he had a chance to prove that against Francisco Cerundolo from Argentina. The two met three times before and while the Argentinian was the winner in their first match, it was because of Sinner's retirement.

In the other two matches, it was the world no. 8 who triumphed and he wanted to follow up on that win also in Rome. He started well, breaking his opponent in the very first game of the match, but he was quickly broken back with Cerundolo leading 3-2 in the opening set.

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In the eleventh and twelfth game, players traded breaks once more, resulting in a first-set tie-break. Supported by the Italian crowd, Sinner was able to dominate the tie-break, winning it 7-3 and gaining important advantage in the match.

But he couldn't find his rhythm early in the second set and his advantage soon disappeared. Cerundolo led by two breaks and even though he lost one of the breaks for a brief period, he broke his opponent's serve once more and won the second set 6-2 to take the match into a decider.

The third set was very similar to the second, but this time, Sinner wasn't able to do anything on the return. He didn't have any break points while his opponent was still able to break, and not just once but twice.

All of that resulted in one of the biggest wins in Cerundolo's career, beating the world no. 8 to advance to the quarterfinals of the 2023 Italian Open in Rome. Up next, he will take on another Top 10 player, this time the fourth-seeded Casper Ruud from Norway.

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