The Australian secured an early break after Jannik Sinner produced a handful of early unforced errors.

Jolted into action, Sinner cut the deficit immediately however, reeling off four consecutive games to put him out of sight in the first set.

A single break in the fifth game of the second set was all the Italian needed to start off his ATP Finals campaign with a bang 6-3, 6-4.

Jannik Sinner insists he needs to improve before facing Taylor Fritz

Taylor Fritz kicked off proceedings in Turin earlier that day with a smart win over an irate and out of sorts Daniil Medvedev.

Set to take on Sinner next, it’ll be the pair’s first meeting since their US Open final in September, a match the Italian won convincingly.

Despite the victory, Sinner, last year’s runner-up, addressed the sluggish start he made in his opening match.

“I am very happy,” he said in his post-match press conference. “I started off with some unforced errors, he was playing great at the beginning of the match so I just tried to stay there mentally knowing that at some point, hopefully, my tennis would arrive and it arrived quite early on then.”

“I started to return very well. Serve, for sure, I have to improve even for the next match when I play Taylor, for example today he played really, really well so let’s see but today I am pleased about the win and hopefully this can give me confidence for the next one.”

The Italian currently leads his head-to-head series with Fritz 2-1 and if he notches up a win, more or less secures his path to the semi-finals.

Jannik Sinner will grow into the ATP Finals

Sinner may not have shown his most dominant form yet, but he’s certainly likely to as the Finals progress.

Though his opening match ended in a straight-sets win, it lacked some of the authority we’ve come to expect from him – likely down to his lack of game time over the last month, having withdrawn from Paris through illness.

With an incredible record of 26 wins in his last 27 matches, he’s riding the same wave of confidence that saw him end last year with the confidence to win his first Grand Slam.

As he settles into the tournament, that trademark intensity is bound to return.

Related Posts