Sinner beats Popyrin in the 2nd round of the US Open, now Shapovalov

Australian danger defused without problems: Jannik Sinner beats Poyprin 6-3 6-2 6 in two hours and one minute and qualifies for the third round of the US Open, also revealing the defeat suffered in Madrid in 2021 in the only previous one who had been played between the two so far. The n.36 of the world (but at the beginning of August it was 19), winner of the Masters 1000 in Canada in 2024, thus cannot perform the feat of becoming the first player of the Open era to eliminate the champion in charge of New York for two consecutive years (in 2024, in fact, in the third round he defeated Djokovic). In the next round for Jannik there is Denis Shapovalov: the Canadian won in four sets against Royer.

super start

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On the other hand, finding countermeasures to this Sinner proved to be almost impossible since the first points, as expected, the challenge would have been addressed by the service and Popyrin would need high percentages to prevent Jannik from taking control of the exchange immediately. Instead, in the first set he stopped at 43% and even when he rose just above 50, he had to deal with the exceptional numbers of the Red Fox in the response to the second ball. On the other hand, in each turn Sinner proves to be very dangerous, because he can remove time from the opponent from the answer and so he can mock continuously, in particular on the reverse of Popyrin, his weak point. The break that decides the first set comes immediately, in the second game, with Sinner who earns the break ball with an answer that immediately forces the Australian to error. On 30-40, Popyrin is still making mistakes after an intense exchange, with its reverse that turns off on the net.

first risks

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At the beginning of the second set the canvas does not change: the number one raises the intensity and immediately finds the extension in the third game, with the break. In the first two points he still sends out popyrin laps on the straight side, then he climbs 0-40 with a winning Smash and closes the game, forcing the opponent again to an impossible defense on the reverse. The only negative note, the percentage of Prime by Jannik, who never climbs 50%: and if it is true that he manages to make up for with the solidity of the second, so poor percentages can put the Australian back in response. And so it happens in the sixth game, when Popyrin gets the first three break balls of the meeting, canceled by the red fox with two winning straight and a second ace. The long pause that the number one takes after a prolonged exchange is perhaps the symptom of an athletic condition not yet at the top after the virus, but the concern lasts an instant: in the next game, the danger escaped, Sinner gets another break and puts the partial in the safe despite 38% of the first in the field in the set.

mission accomplished

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At the beginning of the third set Sinner has yet to cancel two break balls in the third game, canceled thanks to a free Popyrin straight and a forced error by the push of the blue. To the advantages, then, two other errors of the Australian. Once again, after the danger, Jannik unleashes himself: in the fourth game three unformed errors for Popyrin bring the n.1 to the 0-40 and there Popyrin is hit by the answer and cannot defend himself with the reverse, stopped at the net. Now it is only descent, and the 5-2 break definitively closes hostilities. For Sinner it is the 23rd game in a row won in the Slam on the cement and the 41A in the first 50 played in the Major sul Fast, seventh of all time (Connors and Mcenroe the first with 46-4).