MADRID. It was a real battle but he is always the one who triumphs, Jannik Sinner. The champion from Sesto Pusteria, in the round of 16 of the ATP Masters 1000 in Madrid, beat the Russian Karen Khachanov, number 17 in the world, in three sets and over two hours of play with a score of 5-7, 6- 3, 6-3, flying to the quarterfinals.
Not at his best from a physical point of view, after the hip problem suffered in yesterday’s match against Kotov, Sinner struggled mainly in the first set: after taking a 1-0 lead, the tennis player from Pusterta runs into difficulty especially on the serve of the Russian who always manages to recover it and who closes the set with a score of 5-7.
The gear change However, he arrives in the second set with a rediscovery Sinner immediately takes the lead to 3-0 and, although the Russian manages to stay in the match by taking advantage of his turn at bat, he finishes flawlessly score 6-3equalizing the scores.
The third set opens with a accelerated by Karen Khachanov which immediately leads to 0-1 and then comes immediately taken up by Sinner at the end of a hard-fought second game. In the third game the Russian tries to overtake again and is promptly reached by Sinner who then shoots the ball to take the lead to 4-2. Khachanov tries to raise his head by making it the seventh game but the change of pace in the finale is all Jannik Sinner’s who no longer gets anything wrong and closes with the score 6-3.
The number two in the world, to reach the semi-final, will now have to deal with the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime.
