Jannik Sinner overcomes late wobble to win Paris opener

United News of India

27-05-2025

Paris, May 27 (UNI) World number one Jannik Sinner defied a late wobble to begin his French Open campaign with a straight-set victory over Arthur Rinderknech.
Playing his first Grand Slam match since serving a three-month doping ban, Italian Sinner beat his French opponent 6-4 6-3 7-5 on Court Philippe Chatrier on Monday.
It was not as comfortable as the scoreline suggests, however, with the 23-year-old forced to fight back from a double break down in the third set against a resurgent Rinderknech.
It marked a return to winning ways for Sinner after Carlos Alcaraz ended his run of 26 successive match victories in the Italian Open final earlier this month, the BBC reported.
"First-round matches are never easy," he said. "I'm very happy with how I handled the situation, especially in the third set.
"He made a couple of mistakes when he was serving for the set so that gave me some help. But
I just tried to have the right mindset and attitude."
Earlier on Monday, world number four Taylor Fritz became the highest-ranked player to exit this year's tournament at Roland Garros as he was beaten by Daniel Altmaier in the first round.
Having saved three early break points in a cagey opener, Sinner was gifted the first set in an error-strewn service game from 75th-ranked Rinderknech, a backhand planted into the net on Sinner's first set point sending the Italian on his way.
He broke at the second time of asking in the fourth game of the second set and eased through its remainder, dropping just a solitary point on serve.
But his game temporarily crumbled in the third set as Rinderknech, buoyed by a partisan crowd in his home capital, won the opening four games to take a commanding lead.
Normality soon resumed however as Sinner fought back to cancel out Rinderknech's break points, puncturing the atmosphere on the showcase court.
From there he barely gave his opponent another sniff of a chance. Piling the pressure on the Frenchman's racquet, Sinner went a break up and sealed the match with a fierce serve
Rinderknech, 29, could do little to match.
Sinner will play French veteran Richard Gasquet in the second round.
Former top 10 player Gasquet, 38, is playing the final tournament of his career at Roland Garros and beat compatriot and fellow wildcard Terence Atmane in his opening match.
Sinner won his third major title at the Australian Open in January but has yet to reach the final at Roland Garros, exiting in the semi-finals 12 months ago at the hands of eventual champion Alcaraz.
In February he accepted an immediate three-month ban after reaching a settlement with the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) over his two positive drugs tests last year.
That suspension ended earlier in May, meaning he was able to compete at his home tournament in Rome - where he dropped just one set en-route to the final against Alcaraz - before travelling to Paris for the second major of the year.
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