Sinner beats Struff in two sets: reaches the round of 16 at Indian Wells

A race between winning horses, a head-to-head that becomes increasingly tight: Jannik Sinner responds to Carlos Alcaraz already in the round of 16 after having liquidated Aliassime. The South Tyrolean beat Struff 6-3 6-4 and becomes the Italian with the most consecutive victories, 17, surpassing Adriano Panatta. The tug-of-war continues: Carlos defends the number 2 in the world, Jannik wants to overcome him, now the long-distance challenge (which would be a direct clash in the semi-final) moves to the next round. An impeccable match from Jannik, who manages the serve very well and often becomes the protagonist of attacks on the net and volleys like a phenomenon. The German, never faced before, is not an easy rival, he serves well, hits hard but too often looks for solutions forward which allow Jannik to pass him as he wants. “We had prepared very well – says Sinner after the victory -. He is not an easy opponent, we watched many matches to understand how to move but it wasn’t easy to find someone who played like him to train me. I’m happy, now let’s think about the next one shift”. Which could see him against Shelton, the second to last to beat him, in Shanghai in October, or Cerundolo.

THE MATCH

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In the first set Sinner had only one moment of confusion, and ended up 0-30 against the German who shot with all his might. Jannik recomposes and halves the deficit with serve and forehand and returns to 30-30. Then, a backhand winner from Struff brought a break chance, which was immediately canceled out by the Italian with his serve. Sinner, who is followed in the stands by Darren Cahill, closes with another ace to make it 2-1. Danger escaped and immediate reaction for our number 1, who in the following game breaks serve from the German number 25 in the world and maintains the advantage by closing the first set 6-3 in 32 minutes. We return to the field with a more conservative Struff who, however, in the 5th game, has to give up and give up the serve, ending up 3-2 down. Jannik also has the opportunity for a double break but doesn’t take advantage of it and in the 8th game with a double fault and straight into the corridor he ends up 0-30. Struff wins two break points, canceled out by a phenomenon from the blue. With the sixth ace and four points in a row, Sinner brings home a decisive game and then closes 6-4.