Pavel Kotov will be Jannik Sinner’s next opponent in the third round of the Masters 1000 in Madrid. The Russian, after a match that lasted more than three hours and 15 minutes, defeated the Australian Jordan Thompson 5-7 6-4 7-5 with the associated cancellation of two match points at 5-4 in favor of aussie in the third set.
Born in 1998, a native of Moscow, Kotov stood out in 2024 for having won his first match at Slam level in his career, against the Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech at the Australian Open. He then lost to Flavio Cobolli to the next round. Previously, at the end of 2023, he had reached the final in Stockholm, losing to the most iconic Frenchman on the circuit today, Gael Monfils. All starting from the qualifiers and finding themselves two points away from victory in the tie-break of the second set.
There is a very particular bond that connects him to Sinner: in 2022 Jannik should have participated in the ATP 500 in Astana, but his withdrawal following Sofia’s injury against Rune allowed him to enter the draw as a lucky loser, beating the Spanish Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and achieve the first victory at that level.
Sinner leaves only 3 games to Sonego: he advances to Madrid in just over an hour
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And as a lucky loser he also made his debut in Madrid last year, going out against the German Oscar Otte (in what was, and not only for Jan-Lennard Struff’s final, almost the Germans’ tournament). Kotov, until now, has only played twice with top ten players: he forced the German to a third set Alexander Zverev in Chengdu, in the second round, and before that he faced his compatriot Andrey Rublev in Bastad, Sweden. In that case, again at the second round level, he lost in two sets.
This year he has already beaten four Italians, Lorenzo Musetti in Hong Kong (second round), Lorenzo Sonego in Doha (first round), Flavio Cobolli in Marrakech (second round, with a rematch) e Fabio Fognini again in Morocco (quarter-finals). With the Azzurri at ATP and Slam level (main draws only) his balance at this point is 5-3.
