After a disappointing loss at the Canadian Open, Jannik Sinner got his Cincinnati Open campaign underway with a solid win over native hopeful Alex Michelsen.
Michelsen had to play the qualifying to find himself in the main draw of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament, and he did well beating a couple of solid players, such as Tallon Griekspoor and Mackenzie McDonald.
By the time this match rolled around, Michelsen was able to play himself into a nice shape, and he played some solid tennis in this match. Sinner is the far better player, and he won the match in two sets, but it wasn't the cleanest match.
It was similar to his performances last week in Montreal, where he generally played solid tennis, but they weren't clean matches. Even the match against Andrey Rublev was like that. He played a fabulous set and two bad sets, in which he was outplayed.
Michelsen didn't outplay him in Cincinnati, but he sometimes gave him trouble. The start of the match was ideal for the World No. 1 player, as he broke immediately to take a 2-0 lead. He could have to save break points just a few games after that.
Michelsen wouldn't allow a single break point after getting broken, but Sinner had to save one more at 4-3. He could do that and win the opening set 6-4, but it was clear that the Italian wasn't getting the type of pressure he was hoping for.
The proof of that came in the second set, in which he struggled to create many chances. In fact, Michelsen actually created the first break points in the second set. It came in the second game of the second set, but the Italian held firm.
After that, fans in Cincinnati saw some competitive games on both sides. Both of them had break points, but neither could convert them, so it remained a close match.
Both took a similar approach, as both were quite aggressive. Sinner had more winners but also more errors than Michelsen did. The American was actually doing an excellent job avoiding problems in the second set, which was impressive.
Sinner might have been a bit impatient at times, but that's just how he plays. As he's capable of hitting a winner from anywhere on the court, he will go for it most of the time.
There has never been a shortage of confidence in his game, but it doesn't always work out that well. He clearly needs a bit more time to lock in properly and find those corners as he can.
The match was progressing towards a tie-break, but it didn't end up there. Even though Michelsen had a game point at 5-5, the Italian just stuck around trying to put any kind of pressure on the American.
It worked because Michelsen pressed a bit too much and committed some unforced errors to drop his serve. It was the perfect time, too, because Sinner only needed to hold his serve once more to win the match, escaping in two sets, 6-4, 7-5.
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