Atp Halle, Sinner wins over Sonego: “But beating him is never easy”

The law of the fittest issues its verdict in the midday fire on the grass of Halle, in the Owl Arena, the central field where the blue derby of the round of 16 of the ATP 500 Terra Wortmann Open was played. And the strongest is Jannik Sinner, who with the success in three sets over Lorenzo Sonego hits the eighth victory out of eight Italian challenges.

He’s the strongest because he wins in a comeback after almost three hours of play, with 68% of first serve balls (compared to 52% with Gasquet) and despite his slightly defective forehand and eleven missed break points. And he’s the strongest because he wins despite Sonego playing an impeccable game: for more than an hour the first set is an apparently calm sea without tears, the wave only rises at the tie-break, and the breaking point ends up overwhelming Jannik and raise Lorenzo. «It was certainly a difficult match – commented the South Tyrolean on his behalf -. We both had many missed opportunities. It’s not easy to play on grass and it’s never easy to play against Lorenzo».

Gipo Arbino, coach of the Turin player, also knows that Sinner suffers from Sonego’s game: «A match that was decided on two or three balls could have gone one way or the other in the end. For Lory, eight important break points and a pinch of bad luck. What remains are his improvements in his return and backhand, in which he must begin to believe. Jannik has improved a lot in his serve, I complimented coach Cahill. But Lorenzo’s growth today was more visible».

It was a difficult match, we both had many missed chances. It’s not easy to play on grass and it never is against Lorenzo – Jannik Sinner

An evident growth in the last month when the tennis player based at the Sporting club reached the second round of Roland Garros after beating the Russian Rublev, number 7 in the world.

A very different match from the only previous one between the two, that of Montpellier at the beginning of the year: «It ended 6/4 6/2 for Jannik, you could see that Lorenzo just couldn’t keep up with his pace». This time, however, he came very close to interrupting the South Tyrolean’s series of Italian victories and adding another prestigious one to his only one, the one over Matteo Berrettini last week in Stuttgart. Sinner’s last victory over a blue dates back to Montecarlo, 6/2 6/2 in Musetti. Fognini and Mager committed him the most, in three and four sets respectively.

Yes, ugly customer Sonego, these days. And remaining in blue, Andrea Vavassori also advances on the German grass in addition to Sinner in the doubles: yesterday together with Simone Bolelli he conquered the semifinal by beating the Olivetti/Hernandez duo 6/4 6/4.

Today the hunt for the final against the German Andreas Mies and the Brazilian Marcelo Demoliner, partner of Vavassori in the success in Marrakech and in other tournaments of the season.