New Delhi: Jannik Sinner defeated Gabriel Diallo 6-2, 7-6(6) despite power failures and a fire alarm to qualify for the fourth round of the WTA Cincinnati Open. He made a brilliant start to his title defence, beating Daniel Elahi Galán in just 59 minutes.
The World No.1 faced an unfamiliar challenge against the 23-year-old Canadian, who broke through on clay when he qualified for the quarterfinals of the Madrid Open and continued to build momentum on grass, clinching his first ATP title at the Libéma Open.
Sinner’s evening match was delayed due to a late finish to Taylor Fritz’s match with Lorenzo Sonego, which endured a 75-minute delay when the venue lost power.
Diallo made a good 2-0 start, but his lead vanished quickly as Sinner changed gears. The current Australian Open, Wimbledon, and US Open champion dominated the next six games, fought back from 15-40 to seal the opening set on serve.
Despite the earlier fire alarm delay, Sinner and Diallo remained on serve at the start of the second set, with the Italian winning a close eighth game to level at 4-4. Diallo kept the pressure on, holding serve with a well-timed drop shot, saving the first break point of the set twice to put himself a game away from a decider.
But, the World No.1 erased both deficits but fell behind 4-2 in the tiebreak after winning the first two points. He appeared to change the momentum after switching the ends, but Diallo capitalised on errors from the top seed to earn his first set point.
The Canadian failed to convert and netted a volley to pull up match point for Sinner, who took full advantage of his mistake to secure victory with an ace. The Italian completed his 23rd consecutive hard-court win in under two hours.
‘It was a very difficult day at the office’: Sinner
The match was stopped in the second game of the second set when a fire alarm started to sound in the 1899 club grandstand. After a delay of a few minutes, both players agreed to play through the sound and flashes.
After the match, Sinner said that it was a very difficult day at the office, and you have to find the balance against these big servers.
“I struggled with that at times today. But I need tough matches like this, I’m happy I got one before the Grand Slam… I’m happy about today, but I know I can do things better” he added.