Jannik Sinner has maintained a flawless service record, winning every service game in his first two matches at this year’s US Open.
US Open 2025
Venue: Flushing Meadows, New York Dates: 24 August-7 September
Coverage: Live radio commentaries across 5 Live Sport and BBC Sounds, plus live text commentaries on the BBC Sport website & app
World number one Jannik Sinner says there is still room for improvement despite recording a 23rd successive match victory in hard-court Grand Slams to reach the US Open third round.
Following a dominant first-round victory over Vit Kopriva, where he conceded just four games, the defending champion Sinner delivered another efficient performance against world number 36 Alexei Popyrin.
The showing sent a clear message to Sinner’s competitors, as Popyrin, who defeated Novak Djokovic in the third round in New York last year, was considered a potentially challenging opponent for the Italian.
However, Sinner broke Popyrin’s serve early in each set, securing a decisive 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 victory on Arthur Ashe Stadium in just over two hours.
Sinner has not been defeated in a hard-court major since the 2023 US Open, where he lost in the fourth round to Alexander Zverev.
He is the defending champion at Flushing Meadows, having won the title last year, and is also the two-time defending Australian Open champion.
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Despite the victory, Sinner expressed dissatisfaction with his serve against Popyrin, noting that he landed only 51% of his first serves.
“I felt like we both didn’t serve great but I was returning very well, especially on the second serve,” he said.
“I’m very happy about today. Obviously I’m aiming to improve the serve but, about the rest, I feel quite comfortable.”
In the third round, Sinner will face Denis Shapovalov, the 27th seed from Canada, as he aims for his third major title of the year.
Sinner’s dominance was evident during the second set when, serving at 3-2 with a break, he saved three break points to maintain his lead.
In the following game, Sinner broke serve to love, effectively ending any hope of a Popyrin comeback.
A similar pattern emerged at the start of the third set when Popyrin failed to capitalize on a 15-40 advantage on Sinner’s serve, and the top seed responded by breaking serve to love in the subsequent game.
In other matches, Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak staged a remarkable comeback to defeat Russian ninth seed Karen Khachanov in an epic second-round encounter.
Majchrzak recovered from two sets down, overcame a 5-2 deficit in the fifth set, and saved five match points to win 2-6, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 7-5, 7-6 (10-5).
Meanwhile, Russian Andrey Rublev emerged victorious from a challenging four-set match against American Tristan Boyer.
Boyer, ranked 113th in the world, extended the match by winning the third set before 15th seed Rublev secured a 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (7-4) victory.
Rublev’s next opponent will be Coleman Wong, who followed up his historic first-round win against Aleksandar Kovacevic with a four-set victory over Australia’s Adam Walton.
Wong’s first-round success made him the first male player from Hong Kong to win a Grand Slam singles match in the Open era.
Lorenzo Musetti defeated Belgian veteran David Goffin 6-4, 6-0, 6-2, and the 10th seed will face fellow Italian Flavio Cobolli in the next round.
Cobolli, the 24th seed, won a match tie-break to defeat American Jenson Brooksby in a marathon second-round match that lasted over four and a half hours.
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