Defending champion and No. 1 seed Jannik Sinner cruised through his first- round match at the US Open, taking down Vit Kopriva of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-1, 6-2 on Tuesday in New York.
The Italian never had his serve broken and needed just one hour and 38 minutes to complete the sweep. He hit seven aces while benefiting from Kopriva’s eight double faults; Sinner also won 33 of 40 first-service points (82.5 percent) and 15 of 19 points at the net (78.9 percent).
It was Sinner’s first singles match since his surprise illness-related retirement during the final of the Cincinnati Open against Spanish star Carlos Alcaraz.
“It feels great to be back here,” Sinner said, per The Guardian.
“It’s a very special tournament, the last Grand Slam of the year. The atmosphere is always amazing. “I’m feeling healthy again,” he added.
“We did our best to be in the best possible shape.” Sinner’s next opponent will be Australian Alexei Popyrin, who defeated Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (3).
Speaking of Australians, later in the day No. 8 seed Alex de Minaur took down Christopher O’Connell in an all-Aussie matchup 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
de Minaur, who has twice made it to the quarterfinals in the Open, needed less than two hours to advance, breaking O’Connell’s service once in each set while facing not one break point the entire match.
de Minaur will next face Japan’s Shintaro Mochizuki, who swept Hugo Gaston of France 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.
Sinner’s countryman, 10th-seeded Lorenzo Musetti, pushed past Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
Both men finished with 13 aces and won at least 85 percent of their first-service points, but Musetti limited himself to one double fault versus Mpetshi Perricard’s 10. Tommy Paul, the 14th seed, was one of two Americans in action Tuesday.
Paul topped Elmer Moller of Denmark 6-3, 6-3, 6-1. Unseeded Brandon Holt, the other American playing, was swept by Nuno Borges of Portugal 6-4, 6-2, 6-3.
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No. 19 Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina became the first player this tournament to rally from a two-sets-to-none hole. He fell down a break in the third set before charging back to beat Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi 3-6, 2-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-3.
No. 23 Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan beat Marin Cilic of Croatia 6-4, 6-1, 6-4, and No. 27 Denis Shapovalov of Canada swept Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics 6-4, 6-4, 6-0. Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, seeded 25th, swept Britain’s Billy Harris, but not without a lengthy tiebreak in the second set.
In a match that fell five minutes short of three hours, Auger-Aliassime prevailed 6-4, 7-6 (8), 6-4.
And No. 26 Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece dropped the first set but came back to beat France’s Alexandre Muller 4-6, 6-0, 6-1, 7-6 (5).
Other winners included French wild card Valentin Royer, Swiss qualifier Leandro Riedi and Belgium’s David Goffin. German third seed Alexander Zverev opposed Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo in the final match of the night.
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