NEW YORK, August 24, 2019
Jannik Sinner is the youngest player in the men’s main draw of the US Open. At the age of 18, the Italian defeated Mario Vilella Martinez of Spain 7-6(1), 6-0 in just 72 minutes in Friday’s final round of qualifying.
On Thursday, Sinner had to save two match points, rallying from a break down in the third set against Viktor Galovic from Croatia. The teenager clinched his first two ATP Challenger titles on home soil in Bergamo as well as in the United States at Lexington earlier this season.
Qualified 🎾✔️
🇮🇹Jannik Sinner will contest his maiden Grand Slam main draw after a 7-6, 6-0 win over Vilella Martínez!#USOpen pic.twitter.com/nviU8WMy1y
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 23, 2019
“It feels good,” said Sinner, quoted by the ATP Tour website. “I’m really happy to reach the main draw in the US Open. I’ve been trying to improve my game and make new experiences and I’m just really happy to make it through the qualies. Today I was playing much better than yesterday. I played my game and controlled the match.”
Sinner will take on Swiss star Stan Wawrinka in the opening round. 18-year-old US-American Jenson Brooksby, a native of Sacramento, California, also made it into the main draw after ousting Spaniard Pedro Martinez 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3.
Alongside Sinner, Egor Gerasimov of Belarus and Sumit Nagal from India will also make their Grand Slam main draw debut. Nagal will face Roger Federer in Monday’s night session after rallying past Joao Menezes from Brazil 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.
“It feels amazing,” said Nagal, as quoted by the ATP Tour website. “The last three Grand Slams I played I was in qualies and I didn’t win a round. Here was also very difficult with many players who used to be Top 100. I played a long first round against Tatsuma Ito and once I won the first set it got better. Yesterday I played Peter Polansky, who can do anything on the court. He’s so tough. And everyone was feeling the humidity.
“Today it was a rollercoaster. I was telling myself to hold on and stay there. Fight for a game. He was hitting good shots and I wanted to stay close and wait for my moment to break. When he starts missing shots, he keeps missing and missing. Playing main draw of a Slam feels great.”
