Melbourne, Jan 20 (IANS) Jannik Sinner regained his winning streak at Melbourne Park on Tuesday after Hugo Gaston retired unexpectedly once the Italian, a two-time defending Australian Open champion, took a commanding lead of two sets to love at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne.
The match ended abruptly after just over an hour when the injured French World No. 93 retired despite receiving medical treatment. Jannik Sinner dominated early, leading 6-2, 6-1, and the French player left the court visibly devastated. Despite the short contest, Sinner reinforced his status as the leading title contender in Melbourne.
The second seed has won 15 straight matches at Melbourne Park and is chasing a historic third consecutive Australian Open title. A third win would make him only the second man in the Open era, after Novak Djokovic, to achieve this feat. Sinner will next face either Dino Prizmic or James Duckworth.
Later, in his on-court interview, Sinner mentioned that although Gaston’s retirement caught him off guard, he had observed that his French opponent wasn’t performing at his best.
“I saw that he was not serving with a very high pace, especially in the second set, but it’s not the way you want to win a match,” said Sinner, who hasn’t dropped a set in his past 11 matches. “He’s such a talented player. He has incredible touch and moves very, very well, so I knew starting from the beginning that I had to play a very high level of tennis, trying to be as aggressive as possible, which I’ve done, so I’m very happy,” he added.
“I felt very well prepared. We worked a lot physically and on the court (during the off-season). I had one great (practice) match with Felix (Auger-Aliassime), even though it’s an exhibition, we went ‘full.’ The official matches are always very different, and I’m very happy with how I started today. A bit of tension, but now it’s time to enjoy. The hard work is done. We practice for moments like this, so I’m happy to be back,” he said.
Despite Gaston’s physical problems, the matchup was always tough, and Sinner quickly took control. Aside from an early 0–40 scare that Sinner escaped with aces, Gaston had few chances. Sinner broke repeatedly with strong baseline play and passing shots, winning six straight games to lead by a set and 2–0. The contest stayed one-sided, with Gaston briefly holding serve to avoid a bagel before Sinner sealed the match, which ended in just 68 minutes.
–IANS
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