Jannik Sinner cruised past Marin Cilic 6-2 6-2 in one hour and 21 minutes to reach the second round at the China Open in Beijing.
Sinner saved the only break point he faced in the match against 2014 US Open champion Cilic, who was aiming to win his first match since reaching the Round of 16 at Wimbledon.
Sinner earned an early break point in the first game, but Cilic saved it with a forehand winner. The four-time Grand Slam champion earned three break points in the fifth game. Cilic saved the first two break points, but Sinner converted his third opportunity with a backhand.
Sinner hit a service winner on his set point at 5-2 to close out the first set 6-2 in 39 minutes.
Sinner held serve with a service winner in the second game of the second set before breaking at love in the third game. He did not face any break points in his next service games.
Cilic served to stay in the match at 1-5 and saved two match points. Sinner faced the only break point while he was serving for the match at 5-2. He saved it with ace and fired a service winner on a match point to seal the second set 6-2.
Sinner was playing his first match since his defeat against Carlos Alcaraz in the US Open Final. The world number 2 player won the China Open title in 2023 and finished runner-up to Alcaraz in last year’s final.
Sinner will face Terrance Atmane for the second time this year. The Italian player beat his French player in the Cincinnati semifinal last.
Sinner has won his past 27 opening-round matches since Cincinnati.
“I try to put a lot of concentration into the first-round matches, because I know that many things can go wrong, After you usually find your rhythm, your pace, the speed of the courts much better. I try to prepare myself in the best possible way. I came here quite early in order to feel the conditions. I’m very happy to deliver this kind of performance today. Marin is a very tough player to play against, his peak is quite high. I managed to break him quite early in both sets, which gave me the confidence to keep going.”
