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
PSG star Hakimi faces trial for alleged rape
- The 27-year-old Moroccan international denies any wrongdoing
- “I contest it and everything proves that it is false,” Hakimi wrote on X
PARIS: Paris Saint-Germain footballer Achraf Hakimi, a key player in their Champions League-winning side last season, is to stand trial charged with raping a young woman, his lawyer and a French prosecutor told AFP Tuesday.
In February 2023, a woman then aged 24 told police in Val-De-Marne southeast of Paris that Hakimi had raped her.
The 27-year-old Moroccan international, who played a pivotal role in Morocco becoming the first African and Arab side to reach the World Cup semifinals when they made the last four in 2022, denies any wrongdoing.
“Today, a rape accusation is enough to justify a trial, even though I contest it and everything proves that it is false,” he wrote on X on Tuesday.
“I await this trial calmly, which will allow the truth to come out publicly.”
Hakimi’s lawyer Fanny Colin said a trial had been ordered and the prosecutor in the Nanterre suburb of Paris confirmed it.
“A trial has been ordered on the basis of an accusation that rests solely on the word of a woman who obstructed all investigations, refused all medical examinations and DNA tests, refused to allow her mobile phone to be examined, and refused to give the name of a key witness,” Colin said.
The plaintiff said she met Hakimi in January 2023 on Instagram and went to his home in a taxi ordered by the player, a police source said at the time.
She claimed that the player kissed her, touched her without her consent and then raped her.
She said she managed to push him away and text a friend, who came to pick her up.
PSG coach Luis Enrique when asked about it at Tuesday’s press conference, ahead of the Champions League play-off second leg match with Monaco, said: “This matter is in the hands of the authorities.”
The plaintiff’s lawyer, Rachel-Flore Pardo, said her client was relieved to hear the case was going to court.
She said the judiciary had been exemplary in handling the case.
But its treatment in general showed “there are still areas where the #MeToo movement has not yet breached the sound barrier, chiefly in men’s football,” she added.
Hakimi, born in Spain to a Moroccan mother, trained with Real Madrid making his senior debut for them in 2017.
He was also one of Morocco’s superstars during the Africa Cup of Nations, with the host team making it to the final where they lost in a chaotic climax to the tournament to Senegal.
Hakimi joined PSG in 2021, after stints with Borussia Dortmund and Inter Milan.
