Jannik Sinner moved past Diego Schwartzman 6-2 6-4 in 1 hour and 40 minutes to reach the third round on Pista Rafa Nadal at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell.
Sinner broke serve four times and won 52% of his first service points. Schwartzman converted three of his eight break points.
Sinner earned his first break in the first game of the opening set, but Schwartzman broke straight back. Sinner broke twice in the fifth and seventh games to take a 5-2 lead and saved a break point in the eighth game to close out the first set 6-2.
The second set started with five consecutive breaks. Sinner went up a break twice in the first and third games, but Schwartzman pulled back on serve both times to draw level to 4-4. Sinner clinched his fourth break to seal the second set 6-4.
“I think I started very well, especially in return games. I tried to stay quite aggressive, made a couple of unforced errors, but I have to remind myself that this is the first round for me. I tried to stay calm and obviously try in the best way in important moments. Now the main focus is to recover for tomorrow hopefully with better feelings than today. Diego is a very tough player to play against and I am very happy”, said Sinner.
Sinner reached the semifinal in Barcelona in 2021 and hopes to improve this result this week. The Italian player reached the final at the Miami Open and Rotterdam and the semifinal in Indian Wells and Monte-Carlo. He admitted during the post-match interview that he is not too worried about the busy schedule. He is seeking his sixth quarter final in eight tour-level tournaments this year.
“I think this is a good problem to have. I came here with a positive mindset. I think that the first round was going to be tough, so I also tried to adapt myself to the conditions and the court. Obviously it’s very nice with the crowd here”, said Sinner.
Sinner set a third round match against Yoshihito Nishioka, who beat David Goffin 6-1 7-5.
Second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas cruised past Pedro Cachin 6-4 6-2 on Pista Rafa Nadal. Tsitsipas is aiming to win his first title in Barcelona after reaching the final twice in 2018 and 2021. Tsitsipas has improved his record this season to 17 wins to 5 defeats. He arrived in Barcelona from Monte-Carlo, where he lost to Taylor Fritz in the quarter finals.
Tsitsipas did not face a break point and converted all three of his chances.
“I was able to bring good tennis out there on the court. I kept mixing it up. I kept being aggressive, more than I am used to, so the whole evaluation is positive. I am happy with how things evolved over the course of the match. It’s one of those matches I was able to figure out from early on, keep up with the pace, and anything that was being thrown at I was reacting to it very positively and being very smooth on the court. It’s always a motivation for me, when I step out on these courts. Obviously, good memories are in the back of my head. It’s two finals, but still you keep the positives instead of sticking too much to what went wrong in those finals. I am just happy to be here. I am just enjoying tennis and hoping for the final, but it’s always a very long way to go. ”, said Tsitsipas.
Tsitsipas will face a third round match against Denis Shapovalov, who cruised past Jozef Kovalik 6-4 6-3.
Lorenzo Musetti cruised past Jason Kubler 6-3 6-1 to reach the third round in Barcelona for the second time in his career. Musetti raced out to a 5-0 lead with a double break in the second and fourth games. Kubler pulled one of the three breaks back and won three consecutive games to reduce the gap to 3-5. Musetti served out the first set 6-4. Musetti broke three times to cruise through to a 6-1 win in the second set.
Musetti beat Novak Djokovic to reach the quarter finals in Monte-Carlo last week.
Musetti set up a third round match against this year’s Rio Open champion Cameron Norrie, who eased past Pavel Kotov 6-1 6-2 with two breaks in each set.
