Jannik Sinner woke up to some really bad news, but he shook that off and beat Roman Safiullin in three sets to advance at the 2024 China Open.
The young Italian player won the China Open last year and returned this year hoping to win the ATP 500 event again. So far, it's been going really well for him on the tennis courts, even though he had issues in both of his matches.
In the first round, Sinner lost a set but battled back to win the match against Nicolas Jarry. In the second round, he also battled back to win from a set down.
What might have distracted him a little bit was the news that came out this morning, which is that the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) will appeal Sinner's doping case, which could result in him being banned for up to two years if the ruling is overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sprot (CAS).
That had to weigh heavily on Sinner, who looked a bit all over the place early on in the match. Safiullin is a tricky player who can play solid tennis behind his massive serve, and he was able to break first.
He won that opening set 6-3, and it was mostly due to Sinner's inconsistent play. The Italian made 14 unforced errors in only 9 games, which was too many, especially since he only had 9 winners.
The Italian didn't give up and, in time, found his best tennis. He played much better in the second set, starting with the serve that allowed the rallies to go much smoother for the World No. 1 player.
Safiullin was the player who was all out of sorts this time around. Under heavy pressure from the 23-year-old, the Russian made 19 unforced errors in only eight games of play, which was far too many.
It mostly came from Sinner applying heavy pressure, but Safiullin didn't play as well as he did in the opening set. He's had a couple of performances like this, when he struggled to keep up as the match went on.
After winning that second set 6-2, Sinner completely relaxed and was able to break first in the final set as well. He was hitting the ball well, not allowing his opponent anything.
There is a huge difference in quality between the two, and Safiullin continued to struggle under the pressure. Sinner just brought too much heat from the baseline and he kept hitting through Safiullin, who had far better control in the third set but still simply not good enough to defeat Sinner.
The final score was 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 for the Italian, who moved on to the quarter-final of the event, moving closer to that title defense. He will now try to remain focused on tennis, even though the news of WADA's appeal clearly impacted him.
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