Sinner Soars Past Kokkinakis In Rome Opener

Jannik Sinner gave a lesson in handling home pressure on Friday in Rome, where the highest-ranked Italian in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings made a lightning-fast start to his 2023 Internazionali BNL d’Italia campaign.

Sinner breezed past the dangerous Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-1, 6-4 to reach the third round at the ATP Masters 1000 event. A near-complete performance from the World No. 8 featured precise serving, fierce baseline hitting and high-class net play, and he wrapped victory in 79-minutes at the Foro Italico to improve to 13-3 at Masters 1000 level for the year.

Sinner is now 5-0 in his opening-round matches in Rome, where he reached the quarter-finals for the first time in 2022. His next test in the Italian capital is a third-round clash against Sebastian Baez or lucky loser Alexander Shevchenko.

More to follow…