Jannik Sinner missed the last sixteen. © APA / getty / MATTHEW STOCKMAN
Jannik Sinner failed to make it into the round of 16 at the Masters 1000 tournament in Cincinnati. The Sextner had to give in on Wednesday evening (CEST) to the strong John Isner.
19. August 2021
Author: Mr.
The 2.08 meter service giant last won its 16th ATP title in Atlanta and is currently experiencing its second spring. Sinner (ATP 15) could not stop Isner (ATP 26) either. The 36-year-old beat the 20-year-old South Tyrolean in three sets with 5: 7, 7: 6 (4) and 6: 4. The American won 22 of 30 matches this year.
In the first set both players did well on their own serve. Sinner, who fended off a total of 2 breakballs, then promptly used his first break opportunity when the score was 5: 5 and took the lead 6: 5. As a result, Sinner carried out his service without any problems and grabbed the first round.
Tiebreak brings the turning point for Isner
Sinner and Isner also served strongly in the second movement. Both of them showed no nakedness when serving on their own, so that in the end a tiebreaker had to decide the outcome of the second round. In this it initially looked as if Sinner had everything under control. The Sextner got a mini-break and went 4-2 in the front. But then Sinner made a somewhat frivolous mistake from which he was subsequently unable to recover. His opponent, on the other hand, showed a few strong punches and did not let Sinner come up at all.
John Isner took the risk and was rewarded. © APA / getty / MATTHEW STOCKMAN
Isner now played with confidence and took a high risk on many balls. This paid off: When the score was 3: 2 in the third set, the veteran Sinner accepted the service and was celebrated by his home audience. Afterwards, the American could no longer take the butter off his bread – even if Sinner did not give up at all. The young South Tyrolean was by no means the worse player on that day, but was unable to develop enough break opportunities against the service monster Isner (he brought 73% of his first serves into the field).
Successful double debut
For Sinner, the Masters 1000 tournament in Cincinnati is not yet over. On Thursday night (CEST), the 20-year-old was still in action in doubles – and won the first-round duel against Daniel Evans / Neal Skupski with his good friend Hubert Hurkacz 6: 3, 3: 6 and 10: 3 in Match tie-break. In the second round there is a duel against the world’s best doubles, consisting of Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic from Croatia. The game starts on Thursday at around 9 p.m.
