Sinner defeats Andy Murray and advances to Quarterfinals. © ANSA / JASON O’BRIEN
After an excellent comeback on Tuesday against world number 43 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Jannik Sinner went up against old champion Andy Murray on Wednesday at 11.10 a.m. Here is the game in summary.
February 23, 2022
From: do
The duel Sinner against Murray has only happened once so far. In November last year, Sinner had to admit defeat in Stockholm in two sentences. But on Wednesday in Dubai, Sinner showed his class and shot Murray off the field with powerful shots and merciless attack balls. In the end it was 7:5 and 6:2, a result that tells of a sometimes tight game. But Sinner was always far superior to the former world number one. He only had to struggle with himself and his error rate.
The game in the duel of the generations started quickly. In the first set, the game was characterized by fast rallies, but also many mistakes, mainly on the part of Sinners. It quickly became clear that Sinner’s quality surpassed that of Andy Murray and he increasingly had to chase after the South Tyrolean’s attacking balls. However, Sinner was unable to convert his superiority into something countable and often makes serious and unforced mistakes on crucial points. The rally usually ended with either a winner or a mistake by Sinner. At the end of the first set, the Pusterer gained some confidence and won the set 7:5.
“I’m trying to develop well and play consistently well. I know I made a lot of mistakes today, but Andy is one of the best players of recent years. I wish him continued luck.”
Jannik Sinner
In the second set, Sinner continued his regained confidence and immediately got the first break to make it 1-0. In his service games, Sinner remained without any major blunders throughout the match and didn’t even let Murray think of a break. However, as soon as the Brit served, the game became tight and Murray had to fight for every point. Sinner narrowly missed another break several times until after several back and forths he finally got his second break to make it 4:1. Sinner didn’t miss a beat for the rest of the set and won the game 7:5 and 6:2.
The highlights at a glance
| Missed break chances | Sinner gives Murray two break chances when the score is 2:2 and Murray serves. He had taken a 40:15 lead, but the South Tyrolean made mistakes and Murray caught up and ended the game with an ace. |
| Finally the break! | Sinner manages to remain error-free for several rallies in a row and promptly got the break to make it 6:5. Sinner then pulled through his service game confidently and won the first set 7:5. |
| Break at the beginning of the sentence | Murray begins the 2nd set with a service game and has to hand it over to Sinner immediately, who ends the game to make it 1-0 with an irresistible stop ball. |
| Missed break chances | Sinner couldn’t convert his break point into another break for a likely early decision and Murray reduced it to 2-1. |
| The 2nd break | Jannik Sinner was able to win his 4th break point alone in this game and makes it 4:1. |
| Victory for sinners | After 1 hour and 45 minutes, Sinner defeated Murray 7:5 and 6:2. |
Sinner now meets doubles partners
It continues for Sinner in the quarter-finals against his doubles partner Hubert Hurkacz, who was able to prevail on Wednesday in the parallel game against number 69 Alex Molcan from Slovakia 6: 3 and 6: 2. In addition, just a few hours after his match against Murray, Sinner plays with Hurkacz in doubles against Australian John Peers and Filip Polasek from Slovakia (2:00 p.m. CET).
