Sinner Survives Scare To Set Monfils Showdown
World No. 16 Jannik Sinner has set an entertaining US Open third-round showdown with French shotmaker Gael Monfils after weathering an unexpected challenge from 18-year-old American wild card Zachary Svajda at Flushing Meadows on Friday night.
The 20-year-old Italian, who is in strong contention to make a dream debut at the Nitto ATP Finals on home soil in Turin this November, survived a tense third-set tie-break against the World No. 716 before clinching a decisive break in the ninth game of the fourth set to set up the 6-3, 7-6(2), 6-7(6), 6-4 victory.
Sinner seeks his second appearance in the second week of a Grand Slam this year following his run to the fourth round of Roland Garros. A champion at last month’s ATP 500 in Washington, D.C., Sinner had not survived the first round of the US Open in two prior appearances.
“Today was for sure not easy. I didn’t [know] my opponent,” Sinner said. “I tried to stick to my game plan. The first set worked well. The second set was a little bit a roller coaster. I was down 5-2, and I managed somehow to break him when he was serving for the set. The tie-break, I played well. The third set went in his way.
“So the level today, I think it was quite high to be honest. He didn’t miss many balls,” Sinner added. “I tried to play my game. Sometimes I had to go more forward, which I didn’t do today, so I was a little bit struggling… At the end I’m very happy about my performance.”
Sinner will now face World No. 20 Monfils, who edged American Steve Johnson 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. Monfils fired 15 aces and won 25 of 31 points at the net. Sinner and Monfils are tied at 1-1 in their ATP Head2Head series.
“It was a tough match,” Monfils said of his win. “Against Stevie is always an interesting match… I felt Stevie was slicing great the ball with the backhand… I had to put up I think a great skill to beat him, serving good, great defence, returning not bad actually, and a bit of luck to win this one.”