'Showtime' Sinner rallies into Halle QFs

Jannik Sinner is quickly finding that being World No. 1 comes with its own set of challenges.

After fighting off an ultra-aggressive Tallon Griekspoor in a three-set first-round encounter, Sinner again found himself under siege from a free-swinging Fabian Marozsan Thursday before shaking off the Hungarian to win 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-3 and reach the quarter-finals of the Terra Wortmann Open in Halle.

Understanding that playing within themselves was not going to get the job done, Sinner’s two opponents this week at the grass-court ATP 500 have red-lined their games. The Italian, so far, has met the challenge, but he has needed close to his best tennis at the start of his grass season to stay alive.

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Indeed, a piece of inspired brilliance was the catalyst for Sinner’s decisive break in the second game of the third set. On the first point of the game, Sinner lunged for a diving forehand short in the court, rolling 360 degrees before jumping back to his feet to hit a winning crosscourt backhand on the dead run past a dumfounded Marozsan at net.

Sinner, who is spending his second week atop the PIF ATP Rankings, is chasing his first grass-court title this week. He improved to 35-3 on the season after winning his first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with Marozsan.

Marozsan, who came into the match with a 4-3 record against Top 10 players having beaten Holger Rune and Alex de Minaur in Miami in March, was looking to reach his fourth tour-level quarter-final.

Earlier in the day, fifth seed and 2022 champion Hubert Hurkacz, dropped 17 aces on Australian James Duckworth to advance to the quarter-finals with a 7-6(3), 6-4 win. The Pole won 39 of 42 first-serve points according to Infosys ATP Stats.

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