Jannik Sinner continued his quest to become the first man for almost 20 years to win back-to-back US Open titles with a comprehensive second round victory on Wednesday.
The world No.1 stormed past Alexi Popyrin 6-3, 6-2, 6-2, in just over 90 minutes. Popyrin was the player who knocked Novak Djokovic out of the tournament 12 months ago and is a former Masters 1000 champion in Canada. Despite the Australian’s credentials, he was no match for Sinner, who dominated proceedings.
Sinner’s latest triumph is the 23rd Grand Slam hard court match he has won in a row, which is the sixth-longest streak in the Open Era of men’s tennis. Although he still has a way to go to break the all-time record of 40, which is currently held by Roger Federer.
“I try to play the best tennis I can,” Sinner said during his on-court interview.
“The first round match is always different from the other (matches in the tournament). I’m very happy that I managed these couple of matches as good as I could.”
During the first two sets, Sinner broke early to grab a stronghold in the match. Even though the Italian struggled at times to get his first serve in, he recorded just a 38% success rate (11/29) in the second set. He managed to compensate for this with the use of some heavy-hitting and sublime defensive play.
Heading into the third frame, Sinner saved a pair of break points early on before winning five out of the next six games to seal his 33rd win of the season.
“Today felt like we both didn’t serve great but I was returning very well, especially in the second serve. I’m very happy about today,” Sinner admits.
“I’m aiming to improve the serve, but honestly, the rest I feel quite comfortable.”
Sinner will next face 27th seed Denis Shapovalov, who battled past France’s Valentin Royer 7-6(6), 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-3. The Canadian is through to the third round in New York for the first time since 2022, but has previously reached the quarter-final stage back in 2020. Shapovalov leads their head-to-head 1-0 after beating Sinner at the Australian Open four years ago.
The US Open is critical for Sinner’s status as world No.1, which he is in danger of losing to Carlos Alcaraz. To avoid doing so, he must perform at least a round better than the Spaniard or win the title should they both make it through to the final. Heading into the third round, his current points tally is 9,580, which is 60 points less than Alcaraz’s, according to the ATP.
