Jannik Sinner reached the round of 16 of the Madrid tournament by beating the Russian Pavel Kotov in two sets, with a score of 6-2, 7-5. However, the South Tyrolean had to overcome a physical problem, a pain in his hip, which occurred in the second set. “He hurts me,” he said out loud to his coaches. “Let’s try to win it like this, let’s think about today”, Simone Vagnozzi replied. And the blue executed, recovering a break from the Russian and then winning 7-5 by breaking serve again from his rival. The Italian awaits the winner of Khachanov-Cobolli in the next round. The problem with his right hip which strongly affected him in the 2nd set needs to be evaluated.
The story of the match
The first set begins with a double break and counterbreak, then Sinner extends and wins the set 6-2 in 34 minutes of play in which Kotov never managed to hold a serve. In the second set, however, it is the Russian who immediately breaks, then in the ninth game Sinner saves a set point. When the Russian goes to serve for the set, the South Tyrolean counterbreaks, taking the score to 5-5. The Italian champion wins by struggling in the next two games and goes on to win the set and the match.
Who was Sinner’s opponent
Sinner returned to the field after his victorious debut in the Italian derby with Lorenzo Sonego. The South Tyrolean defeated the Russian Pavel Kotov, currently n.72 in the ranking, with a “best” of n.61 signed at the end of January. At the Caja Magica the 25-year-old Muscovite beat the Spanish qualifier Ramos-Vinolas in straight sets on his debut and defeated the Australian Thompson in the second round. Kotov’s path in this first part of the season crossed several times with that of Italian tennis players: he beat Musetti in the round of 16 in Hong Kong, Sonego in the first round in Doha, he took revenge against Cobolli in the round of 16 in Marrakech and always in the Moroccan tournament he overtook Fognini in the quarterfinals.
