Jannik Sinner continued to look borderline unbeatable with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Jan-Lennard Struff in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open on Sunday afternoon.
Literally unbeatable is exactly what Sinner has been throughout this season and dating back to the fall of last year. The Italian is 14-0 in 2024, extending his winning streak to 17 matches overall after ending the 2023 campaign with a trio of Davis Cup successes. Sinner has not lost since falling to Novak Djokovic in the Nitto ATP Finals title match.
Sinner didn’t come close to losing on Sunday. Struff did well to stay within some kind of striking distance most of the way, but the 25th-ranked German could not make any inroads into his opponent’s serve. Sinner saved all three of the break points he faced while advancing in one hour and 14 minutes.
“I feel like for sure I’m playing with confidence at the moment,” Sinner said. “But in the other way, I’m very careful–because, you know, the match can change very fast. If he breaks me (in the) second set (at) 4-3, going 4-all, then it starts again from zero. So I have to be careful.”
Carlos Alcaraz has not won a title since Wimbledon last summer and he is coming off an ankle injury in Rio de Janeiro, but he is starting to build some confidence of his own. Alcaraz opened with a 6-7(5), 6-0, 6-1 defeat of Matteo Arnaldo and used momentum from those last two sets to cruise past Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-2, 6-3 on Sunday.
The second-ranked Spaniard won 46 percent of the points even when Auger-Aliassime put his first serve in play and he broke the Canadian four times.
“I put almost every return in, playing the point,” Alcaraz commented. “I felt that I’m better than him from the baseline, putting some good points on the court. I think it went well. I played aggressive with less mistakes. I think it was almost a perfect match for me.
“I felt really [good] on the court. Yeah, I played at a really high level of tennis–so much higher than the first round. Yeah, hopefully (I) keep climbing.”
Alcaraz will try to keep it going on Tuesday against Fabian Marozan, who famously upset him at the Rome Masters last spring.
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