Sinner Scores A Comprehensive Win In Tour Return At Rotterdam

Jannik Sinner
Jannik Sinner (photo: ATP Tour video)

ROTTERDAM/WASHINGTON, February 14, 2024 (by Michael Dickens)

World No. 4 Jannik Sinner made a successful return to the ATP Tour on Wednesday evening, for the first time since winning his maiden Grand Slam title at the Australian Open last month.

At the ABN AMRO Open in Rotterdam, the 22-year-old Italian who is the top seed in the ATP 500 indoor hard-court event, extended his winning streak to 11 matches with a compressive 6-3, 6-3 victory over Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands in 86 minutes. It was Sinner’s second career win over the Dutch No. 2  in two meetings – and he did it impressively.

Sinner hit 17 winners, made just 10 unforced errors and won 79 percent of his service points. He converted three of eight break point opportunities and saved all three break points faced from the 66th-ranked van de Zandschulp. He outpointed his opponent 68-50.

“I’ve been working a lot in Monaco but I wanted to come here and feel the court. I’m happy to get my first win here over a really great player,” Sinner said, in his court interview after improving to 8-0 this season.

“It’s a little bit different [playing as a Grand Slam champion] and you have to be prepared for your opponents to know you better and know your weaknesses more, so you have to be prepared to work hard and be ready.”

Van de Zandschulp, who finished with five aces and 17 winners, dropped to 1-10 versus Top 5 competition and the loss prevented him from earning a third straight second-round appearance.

Meanwhile, Sinner can climb to a career-high No. 3 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings if he wins the Rotterdam for his 12th career title, which would be an Open Era record for an Italian man or woman.

Up next, Sinner will take on No. 70 Gaël Monfils in Thursday evening’s featured match.

“Gaël is a very dangerous opponent. It doesn’t matter where you play him. He’ll be a fan favorite for sure, but it’s part of the game and you have to accept it,” Sinner admitted. “It’s always a really tough match when we play. I saw some of his first-round match and he played really, really well.”

Monfils extends Rotterdam winning streak to 11

Sentimental favorite Gaël Monfils extended his Rotterdam winning streak to 11 on Wednesday following his double tie-break 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5) victory over qualifier Denis Shapovalov. The one-hour, 37-minute victory was the 37-year-old Monfils’ second in three meetings against the 127th-ranked Canadian.

The 70th-ranked Monfils hit 17 winners, made just eight unforced errors and outpointed Shapovalov 84-75. Shapovalov was overcome by 35 unforced errors.

“Denis is a tough opponent,” Monfils said in his on-court interview. “I tried to serve big and to come to the net a lot to get a feel and rhythm of the court. I was happy to get the win.”

The two-time champion from France, who won back-to-back titles Rotterdam in 2019-20, has reached the final three times. His victory over Shapovalov was his 22nd in Rotterdam, which tied him for third-most in tournament history with Tomas Berdych. Monfils can equal Anders Jarryd for second with 23 if he wins his second-round match Thursday against  No. 1 seed Jannik Sinner. Roger Federer holds the tournament for most wins with 28.

Rune holds off big-hitting Safiullin

Third seed Holger Rune of Denmark prevailed over Russia’s big-hitting Roman Safiullin, 6-4, 2-6, 6-1, to advance to the second round. A pivotal point of the match came with the 20-year-old World No. 7 serving at 1-1. Rune managed to save five break points to hold from 0-40. Then, he sprinted through the next four games to garner his second victory over Safiullin this season.

“I was for sure in trouble,” said Rune, during his on-court interview, looking back at the third game of the final set. “I wasn’t really playing great at that moment of the match, so I just told myself, ‘OK, let’s dig in, just keep digging deep. The longer the match goes, the more time I have to find my level’.

“That happened. I got that game, got some momentum after that one and then started playing really good from 2-1 in the third set.”

Rune, who improved to 42-17 lifetime indoors, finished with 31 winners to 16 unforced errors and converted three of 10 break points. He outpointed Safiullin 85-77. The Russian is now 3-8 against Top 10 players.

On Thursday, Rune will face No. 57 Alexander Shevchenko of Kazakhstan for a berth in the quarterfinal round.

Around the Rotterdam Ahoy

Open 13 Provence champion Ugo Humbert of France, seeded seventh in Rotterdam, lost in the first round to No. 55 Emil Ruusuvuori of Finland, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-3, in two hours and 20 minutes. Ruusuvuori has beaten the World No. 18 Humbert in each of their five meetings and it was his second Top 20 win of the season. The loss snapped a four-match winning streak for Humbert, who came into the tournament with a new career-best ranking. Next, Ruusuvuori will face No. 25 Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany in Thursday’s second round.

Meanwhile, as the Marseille champion Humbert went down, the runner-up, Grigor Dimitrov, won his first-round match over No. 48 Lorenzo Sonego of Italy, 7-6 (4), 6-3, in one hour and 33 minutes to advance. The No. 6 seed from Bulgaria hit 24 winners and made just six unforced errors. He outpointed Sonego 70-54. In the second round on Thursday, Dimitrov will play No. 86 Marton Fucsovics of Hungary.

Milos Raonic of Canada, ranked 309th but using a prior ranking, advanced to the quarterfinal round with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over No. 23 Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan, 6-4, 6-4, in 72 minutes. Raonic hit 12 aces, won 85 percent of his first-serve points and converted two of six break points and did not face any break points on his serve. He outpointed Bublik 66-53.

No. 5 seed Alex de Minaur of Australia secured a berth in Friday’s quarterfinals with a solid 6-3, 6-1 victory over 133rd-ranked qualifier David Goffin of Belgium in an hour and 22 minutes, his fifth career win in five tries against the Belgian. The World No. 11 hit 12 aces and made only eight unforced errors against Goffin. He broke his opponent six times and outpointed Goffin 66-46. De Minaur improved to 18-6 in ATP 500 events since the start of the 2023 season.

Next, de Minaur will face World No. 5 and second seed Andrey Rublev of Russia, who saved three match points and went on to defeat No. 28 Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada, 3-6, 7-6 (6), 7-5, Wednesday evening.

In a battle of former Rotterdam champions, 2021 winner Rublev prevailed over 2022 titlist Auger-Aliassime. He hit 21 winners and withstood an onslaught of 41 winners — including 20 aces — from the Canadian No. 1.

No. 3 seeds Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow of the United States advanced to the semifinal round with a 7-6 (6), 6-7 (14), 10-3 quarterfinal victory over Belgians Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen. The winners saved all six break points they faced and outpointed their opponents 92-89.

In celebration of Valentine’s Day

Wednesday’s ABN AMRO Open results

Thursday’s ABN AMRO order of play

By the numbers

Grigor Dimitrov is 23-2 in his opening rounds since the start of 2023 season. This year, he won the Brisbane title in the first week of the season and reached the final in Marseille last week, to become the first player with multiple ATP Tour finals in 2024.

“Quotable …”

“It was not easy. It was my first match here and I only had one day to practice. So, I didn’t really feel comfortable yet. I was a bit more tight and nervous but in the second set I started to feel better and in the end I was able to win in straight sets.”

–No. 2 seed Andrey Rublev, during his on-court interview, following his Tuesday evening victory against qualifier Zizou Bergs of Belgium.

 

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