Jannik Sinner had more problems than expected in his third-round match against Gabriel Diallo at the Cincinnati Masters 1000. The world No.1 who had been dominant on his debut against Daniel Galan took a risk especially in the second set, in which the young Canadian ace raised his percentages with his serve and also had a set point during the tiebreak.
Diallo found an excellent serve in that circumstance, but the Italian ace played an amazing return and closed the tiebreak thanks to the score of eight points to six. The four-time Grand Slam champion has shown that he can raise his level in the decisive moments even on the less brilliant days and is set to face French veteran Adrian Mannarino for a place in the quarterfinals.
Sinner struggled more than expected
The 23-year-old from Sesto Pusteria has defeated Mannarino in all three clashes on the professional tour, but these two players have not faced each other since the 2023 edition of the Indian Wells Masters 1000. Sinner was already a very good player at the time, but he had not yet begun that rise that would lead him to become the best player in the world.
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He was not fully satisfied with his performance against Diallo and it is for this reason that he immediately asked his team to book a court to do a practice session yesterday. The Italian star who is playing his first tournament after winning the Wimbledon Championships for the first time in his career a month ago worked mainly on his serve which was not so brilliant against the young Canadian talent.
"I needed a tough challenge like this to find the right automatisms and I'm happy to have avoided the third set. My main goal is to show up at the US Open in top shape" Jannik confessed during his press conference.
