Beijing [China], September 27 : World number two Jannik Sinner brushed away a mid-match scare against Terence Atmane on Saturday at the China Open to progress into the quarter-finals of the tournament.
He scripted a 6-4, 5-7, 6-0 to break the French player's resistance and complete a second-round win in a contest that lasted for two hours and 22 minutes. Last month, the Italian breezed past Atmane with relative ease in the semi-finals in Cincinnati. However, on Saturday, the top seed in Beijing was pushed close to his limits by the Frenchman.
After falling short in a tightly contested first set, Atmane broke Sinner's serve three times in the second to restore parity. Throughout the second set, he rushed the Italian with his depth and precision to unsettle him. Sinner upped the ante in the third set and hardly gave any breathing room to storm into the quarter-finals.
"The game style he plays is quite unique, and he is a lefty, and we don't have so many. He is a great, great player and has improved a lot again since Cincinnati. Today he struggled a little bit in the third set with some cramp, but it was a tough, tricky second-round match," Sinner said as quoted from ATP.
"I was twice up with a break in the second set, and I couldn't use it, but this is the sport, and this happens. Maybe the concentration went down a little bit at times and some nerves, but I am very happy to be through to the next round," he added.
Sinner defeated Marin Cilic in the opening round, his first match since his bitter defeat against Carlos Alcaraz in the US Open final. The Italian has won 61 matches on hard courts against players outside the Top 10. He will hope to extend his remarkable run in the quarter-finals when he squares off against World No. 57 Fabian Marozsan. Earlier, Alex de Minaur managed to oust Arthur Rinderknech 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(2) to seal his spot in the quarter-finals in Beijing.
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