Sinner and Fritz get on the board. Here’s how they stand after Day 1 in Turin.

Sinner speaks:

I’m very happy, there were some unforced errors early on but I knew at some point my tennis would arrive. I’m pleased but my serve will need to improve.

The energy of the crowd is great, the welcome was very warm and felt amazing. Thank you everyone.”

Sinner chalks up his first win of the finals, de Minaur had his moments but made too many errors trying to hit big shots in order to stay with Sinner and then failed to step up and put any real pressure on the Sinner second serve. The Aussie showed his tenacity at times and will look to build on that in the rest of his matches.

Jannik Sinner beats Alex de Minaur 6-3, 6-4

Sinner 6-3, 5-4 de Minaur*

Sinner nearly pulls off a lob from out of position wide on the backhand side but the ball just lands long, much de Minaur’s relief. The crowd now getting more behind the Aussie as they want to see more tennis this evening. de Minaur wins a cat and mouse rally and Sinner then plonks long twice in quick succession to relinquish the game. He’ll have to serve for it.

*Sinner 6-3, 5-3 de Minaur

Sinner shows his deft side with a lovely sliced backhand drop shot that has de Minaur scrabbling from the back of the court. He holds comfortably to go one game away, can de Minaur make him serve it out at least?

Sinner 6-3, 4-3 de Minaur *

Maybe Jannik Sinner is a fan of Mark Rylance and his endless hat doffing and candlelit politicking? We could be wrapped up in time for Wolf Hall’s long anticipated return here. As I type that the big man prangs an easy backhand wide to let de Minaur off the hook. Rylance’s Cromwell would never do such a thing. This is all getting a bit Alan Partridge. de Minaur hangs in there and holds, the DJ cranks the Eurythmics’ Sweet Dreams. Alan is that you?

*Sinner 6-3, 4-2 de Minaur

Spirited stuff from de Minaur who chases the ball around the court like a terrier. The players’ sneakers squeaking like a moshpit of mice as the rally goes deeper and deeper. Now then, de Minaur has his man 0-30 down. Big serve needed, and delivered. 15-30. And again, Sinner serve out wide and then followed up with a driving forehand to level things up. 30-30. Sinner finding his serving boots when he needs to. 40-30. Gah! Sinner then messes up a simple overhead volley, an absolute lollipop to give de Minaur another slurp at deuce. Bish and Bosh. Sinner escapes the game and consolidates the break.

Sinner 6-3, 3-2 de Minaur*

After a lengthy delay we are back. The Sinner charge is halted by a long rally that ends in the Italian splooting one long. He still has two break points… make that one as a backhand catches the net. Deuce! de Minaur gets level with a beefy serve down the T. Sinner has him on the hop next point though and now has break point on second serve… he returns with a punishing forehand at de Minaur’s toes and seals the break at the fourth time of asking.

Sinner breaks!

Sinner starts to make his move in the second. de Minaur struggles to contain him in the rallies and ends up going for too much too soon, splatting a forehand wide and then getting pinned by a thunderous passing shot at the net. Sinner has 0-40 but there is a short delay whilst there is a medical situation in the stands.

*Sinner 6-3, 2-2 de Minaur

Sinner sends down his third ACE to close out a quick and painless game to level things up.

Sinner 6-3, 1-2 de Minaur*

Sinner cranks up the pressure with some stonking ball striking. He has de Minaur at 0-30 but again the Aussie shows his resolve with three dogged points in a row. Have some of that! de Minaur stays with Sinner on the baseline and then unleashes an exocet forehand of his own that Sinner can’t keep a lid on. This second set has seen the quality and intensity cranked. de Minaur holds!

Liquid Tennis

*Sinner 6-3, 1-1 de Minaur

Hold that thought, de Minaur strikes back immediately, hustling and harrying to break the tall Italian’s serve.

Here we go with the second set

Sinner 6-3, 1-0 de Minaur*

Sinner breaks in the first game of the second set, the wheels could come off quite quickly here for de Minaur.

de Minaur will be disappointed that he got ahead with the early break and then played a loose couple of games straightaway to hand the initiative back. Sinner then moved through the gears and the set flew out of sight in a flash.

Jannik Sinner takes the first set 6-3

Sinner 5-3 de Minaur* de Minaur is desperate to hold serve, if only to give him some momentum for the next set. He tries to go big on the second serve, too big, and coughs up a double fault for 15-15. Touch! That’ll do his confidence the world of good, de Minaur stretches low with Andrex soft hands to pull off a Becker-esque volley. Beautiful. He holds and so Sinner will serve for the first set.

*Sinner 5-2 de Minaur

Sinner on the verge of the first set after holding to love. de Minaur started brightly and got the early break but since then it has been one way traffic with Sinner finding his range and the Aussie struggling to stay with him in the rallies.

Sinner 4-2 de Minaur*

Big game for de Minaur incoming. He needs to hold firm and stay with Sinner and his pounding groundstrokes. Two loose backhands in a row from Sinner help him to 30-0. A rushed approach from de Minaur goes long to give Sinner a sniff. A couple of MONSTER forehands turn the game on its head and give Sinner a chance of a double-break. de Minaur squeaks to deuce but then hits a soft forehand halfway up the net. Advantage Sinner. There’s the double break! de Minaur was asking for trouble by floating up some loopy backhands that get absolutely pongoed back by Sinner. Too hot too handle eventually and the Aussie sees the game snatched off him.

*Sinner 3-2 de Minaur

Sinner races to 40-0, making de Minaur scrap back and forth the bassline, grinding him down and then pulling the trigger. That’ll do – a big serve out wide sees de Minaur cloth his return into the net. The crowd whoop their man after the early scare.

Sinner 2-2 de Minaur * (*Denotes current server)

de Minaur slams down an ACE to go 15-0 up. The crowd come to life as Sinner forces his opponent to punch long to take it to 15-30. A battle of the backhand slices sees Sinner get two break points of his own. Sublime! A cross court passing shot whistles past the approaching de Minaur and lands an inch inside the tramline. Sinner breaks back immediately and gives it the old ‘Henmania’ mini fist pump.

*Sinner 1-2 de Minaur

Rallies elongating, there’s been plenty of debate about the weight of the balls this year and how they are conducive to even longer rallies. Time for Sinner to feel some pressure as de Minaur gets him to 30-30 and then forces the error to carve out the first break point of the night! He’s got it, Sinner approaches the net but plonks a backhand into the tramline. de Minaur has an early break! Game on.

Sinner 1-1 de Minaur*

de Minaur feels the heat of Sinner’s groundstrokes straight away and fluffs a backhand slice long. Nervy stuff from the Aussie who wriggles off the 30-30 hook with an ace and then breathes a sigh of relief as Sinner slams a backhand into the net cord. He’s on the board.

First Set: *Sinner 1-0 de Minaur (*Denotes current server)

Sinner rattles off his first game to love with a couple of big serves and short rallies. A confident start from the home man. Over to you Alex…

We’ll have some warm ups and then it’ll be game time. 23 year old Sinner is cranking up his lissom limbs in a blue polo shirt and white baseball hat. 25 year old de Minaur is in blue too but he’s got a navy cap on backwards as is his wont. The Aussie is a good three inches shorter than the 6ft3in Sinner who is about to put his impressive wingspan to good use by serving first. Let’s play!

The fantastically named Renaud Lichtenstein is umpiring this evening’s match and there’s a dance show with some heavy strobing taking place on court. The tv screens now show a bouncing tennis ball complete with heart beat sound effect booming around the stadium. It’s all very razzle dazzle.

Here are the players! They head out on court separately, de Minaur is warmly received and Sinner strolls on to court, across a massive picture of his own face to huge cheers and applause.

The smartest dressed painter and decorators in Turin:

The stadium is bathed in the sort of blue light that makes it look like a CSI unit are on the hunt for some incriminating forensics. I’m half expecting Taggart to poke his head out and give a rollocking to a chap in a white boiler suit. The players are due out any moment.

How it works: There are two groups of four in the round robin style tournament, with the semi-finals and final taking place next Saturday and Sunday.

Sinner’s group includes Russia’s Daniil Medvedev, American Taylor Fritz and Australian debutant Alex de Minaur.

Fritz got the better of a hot-headed and racket totalling Medvedev in straight sets earlier on:

The other group will see 2024 French Open and Wimbledon champ Carlos Alcaraz up against Germany’s Alexander Zverev, Norway’s Casper Ruud and Russia’s Andrey Rublev.

I’ve been enjoying the Paul Mescal-ification of the pre promo. Look at these fellas. Work it. That’s before we get to the short shorts.

Preamble