BEIJING: Jannik Sinner survived a scare to sink French qualifier Terence Atmane 6-4, 7-5, 6-0 at the China Open on Saturday as Iga Swiatek launched her title bid.
The world number two Italian Sinner will face 57th-ranked Fabian Marozsan of Hungary in the Beijing quarter-finals.
“It was a very tough match today,” four-time Grand Slam champion Sinner said. “I felt like he was serving great.”
Sinner said that he lost a bit of concentration during the second set but quickly recovered to steamroll past the 68th-ranked Atmane in the deciding set.
“I started off very well in the third set then I saw (Atmane) struggling a bit physically.
“It’s not how you want to win a match but very happy to be again in the next round.”
Atmane declared it would be a fight with two aces in the first game and made Sinner work for the first set.
Atmane sent down six more aces in the second and broke the 24-year-old Sinner to force a deciding set.
With the Frenchman flagging, Sinner raced to victory.
In the women’s draw, Swiatek breezed past home player Yuan Yue, cruising into round three with a 6-0, 6-3 victory.
The world number two from Poland next faces Colombia’s Camila Osorio, ranked 83rd.
Swiatek broke early to set the tone for an ultimately one-sided match against Yuan, winning the first set without dropping a game when the wildcard from China fired long.
Cheered on by her home crowd, the world no. 110 made a better fist of it in the second set but Swiatek wrapped things up when Yuan returned into the net.
Swiatek, who came to the Chinese capital after winning the title in Seoul, gave kudos to her opponent afterwards.
“She was reading the court pretty well,” Swiatek said.
“It wasn’t easy and every game was tight.”
The six-time major champion is the top seed in Beijing after world number one Aryna Sabalenka withdrew with injury.
Swiatek won the prestigious WTA 1000 tournament in 2023 but missed the competition last year citing personal matters.
It later transpired she had accepted a one-month doping ban after testing positive for a prohibited substance.
“I have great memories,” Swiatek said of her history in the Chinese capital.
“But every tournament is a different story so you gotta start from the beginning and grind.”
Also in the women’s draw, world number five Mirra Andreeva of Russia swept aside Zhu Lin of China 6-2, 6-2 and American Jessica Pegula dispatched Australian Ajla Tomljanovic 6-0, 6-3.
Sinner survives to sink qualifier as Swiatek launches Beijing bid
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Sinner survives to sink qualifier as Swiatek launches Beijing bid
- Jannik Sinner survived a scare to sink French qualifier Terence Atmane 6-4, 7-5, 6-0 at the China Open on Saturday as Iga Swiatek launched her title bid
Inter moves top of Serie A after Milan and Napoli drop points
- Inter won 2-1 at relegation-threatened Genoa to move a point ahead of Milan and two points above Napoli, which lost 1-0 at Udinese
MILAN: Teenage defender Davide Bartesaghi scored his first senior goals but couldn’t prevent AC Milan from being held to a 2-2 draw at home to Sassuolo and being overtaken at the top of Serie A by city rival Inter Milan on Sunday.
Inter won 2-1 at relegation-threatened Genoa to move a point ahead of Milan and two points above Napoli, which lost 1-0 at Udinese.
At San Siro, Ismaël Koné gave Sassuolo a surprise lead in the 13th minute but Milan leveled in the 34th as Ruben Loftus-Cheek rolled the ball across the area for Bartesaghi to power in from close range.
The 19-year-old Bartesaghi doubled his tally immediately after halftime when he ran onto Christopher Nkunku’s smart pass and fired inside the near post.
Christian Pulisic and Loftus-Cheek both had goals disallowed for Milan before Sassuolo equalized in the 77th minute through substitute Armand Laurienté.
Laurienté, who had changed the match when he came on, almost scored a stunning winner in the 88th minute following a solo run from his own half but his effort crashed off the left post.
Napoli stunned
Napoli knew it could move atop the standings following Milan’s result.
However, it was Udinese that had the better of the chances and twice thought it had broken the deadlock only to have both goals struck off on video review.
Keinan Davis’s strike was ruled out in the 52nd minute for offside and Nicolò Zaniolo also saw his effort chalked off in the 69th because there was a foul in the buildup.
Between those decisions, Udinese also hit the crossbar through Jakub Piotrowski.
The hosts finally broke the deadlock in the 73rd minute when Jurgen Ekkelenkamp curled a magnificent strike into the far top corner from outside the area.
Rasmus Højlund should have leveled two minutes from time but he somehow fired over an open goal from point-blank range, while Lorenzo Lucca — who joined Napoli from Udinese in July — hit the post in stoppage time.
Inter goes top
Instead it was Inter which moved into the sole lead of Serie A with what looked set to be a routine win, until the final 25 minutes.
Yann Bisseck got Inter off to a perfect start with an early goal and Lautaro Martínez doubled his side’s advantage shortly before halftime.
Vitinha pulled one back for Genoa midway through the second half after squeezing his way through two defenders and rounding Inter goalkeeper Yann Sommer.
Genoa was two points off the relegation zone.
Fiorentina jokes
Gift Emmanuel Orban scored twice — including in stoppage time — as Hellas Verona won 2-1 at last-placed Fiorentina in a relegation battle to move to within two points of safety.
Fiorentina was without a win and eight points from safety. Its fans displayed a banner addressing their Verona counterparts with the words “whoever finishes last pays for the drinks.”
