Jannik Sinner suffered through two sets and then ran riot in the third, beating Frenchman Terence Atmane, number 60 in the ranking, and thus reaching the quarter-finals of the ATP 500 in Beijing : the South Tyrolean won with a score of 6-4, 5-7, 6-0 in 2 hours and 21 minutes.
Two very close sets: in the first, Sinner had to fight hard to defend the early break advantage, while in the second, he had his serve broken three times. And in the third, he ran riot, leaving no chance for the Frenchman, who, halfway through the set, down 3-0, began to suffer cramps.
He will face Hungarian Fabian Marozsan in the quarterfinals on Monday .
"I'm trying to do new things on the court, and I'm using a lot of mental strength to do that, but we have to be careful not to do too much. We don't have to overturn my identity, change everything I am as a player," the world number 2 said after the match.
"Right now , I'm trying to do, let's say, 80% of my usual tennis and 20% of something new; I think I should get to 90-95% of what I am and try to change 5%, maybe doing these different things in the calmer moments at first . I'm mainly thinking about my rotations on serve, then today I tried more drop shots, serve-and-volley," the Italian explained. "But I have to be careful not to lose who I am. In any case, it's all part of the process, it's normal."
After two matches, it's impossible for the use of less familiar shots or techniques to come naturally. "I still think too much; it's impossible to automate everything in such a short time," he admitted. On his next opponent: "We faced each other in Halle over a year ago. He's playing well. I've seen his matches here; he has very high peaks, hits hard, and has a great touch. It's a new challenge, and I can't wait to take it on."
(Unioneonline/L)
