After almost a month-long break following the Wimbledon triumph, Jannik Sinner came back to action at the Cincinnati Open. He faced Colombia’s Daniel Elahi Galán in the first match, winning it with a dominant 6-1, 6-1. Yet, the Italian was far from pleased. Instead, he pointed out three aspects that could make a “big difference” in his journey to improvement. And at the top of that list was something you’d least expect—evident from the player’s displeased reaction despite beating Gabriel Diallo by 6-2,7-6(5) to move to the last 16.

Well, it all came down to serves. Sinner reportedly hit only 6 aces vs Diallo, but committed 5 double faults. Frustrated, the Italian player then headed straight to the practice court at 10 pm and hit about 100 serves, even prompting former pro, Paolo Bertolucci, to compliment the player as “obsessively meticulous” on the La Gazzetta dello Sport. And before you know it, Sinner’s hard work paid off. He came up with better number (12 aces and 2 double faults) in his two-set triumph over Adrian Mannarino’s (10 aces and 12 double faults) in the R16. So, was Sinner finally happy?

In a post-match interview, responding to Tennis Channel’s Prakash Amritraj’s question, the recent victor talked about the same while also highlighting the challenges playing at Cincy. “Yeah, I felt like today I was serving very well. Actually, I didn’t have many chances against him today. I had you know some break chances in the first set. I couldn’t use them. He was serving very well, and this have been my chances,” he said, before adding…

“I felt like you know, here as I always say, and then I keep repeating myself here, it’s very difficult to play tennis, and then when it’s a little bit breezy, then you know we saw today it can be windy, it can rain, and then one second after the sun is out. You never know what’s happening, but you just have to stay there mentally, and I felt like today the chances I had, I tried to use them, and it was a very positive match,” the player noted.

Notably, ranked 89th in the world, Adrian Mannarino saved a break point in the seventh game with an ace, but still, the 37-year-old lefty couldn’t stop his opponent from going on to claim the first set 6-4. The play was suspended for rain with Sinner 40-30 on serve and 2-1 down in the second set, before resuming the duel about 2 hours and 45 minutes later. Although Mannarino gave a tough fight in the second set, Jannik Sinner managed to secure a spot in the QF with a 6-4,7-6(4) triumph at the P&G Center Court. 

With this win, Sinner has now reached his back-to-back QFs at the Cincinnati Open. This is also the eighth consecutive win in Cincy for the defending champion. But can he make it ninth?

Jannik Sinner shares his thoughts about his next opponent

In his next match, Jannik Sinner will be taking on another tricky opponent! Currently ranked 28th in the world, Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime is one of the few players who have an edge over the Italian in the H2H record. Sinner has faced the Canadian twice in his career so far, but surprisingly, he’s yet to win a match against this player.

During his interview with Tennis Channel, he also shared a few thoughts about his upcoming battle. Sinner said, “I never won against Felix. We had a very tough match here (2022 Cincinnati Open). I had a match point. I lost it, but it was a great match. He has huge potential, especially when he’s serving well. This is one surface that suits him very, very well in the games that he plays.” 

Jannik Sinner believes this is going to be a “very difficult” match, but at the same time, he’s ready to “raise” his level of play and come up with a favorable result in this match. Do you think Sinner can finally open his account against this Canadian?