Sinner’s late surge helps Italian reach Miami Open QF, keep brilliant ATP Masters 1000 streak alive

MIAMI: The world number two Italian tennis sensation Jannik Sinner made it to the quarterfinals of the ongoing Miami Open, making a late comeback against home favourite Alex Michelsen in a gripping contest.

On Tuesday, Sinner beat Michelsen 7-5, 7-6(4) at Hard Rock Stadium, coming back from being down 2-5 in the second set, went into a tie-break, and then completed a win after one hour and 42 minutes. He also kept his happy ATP Masters 1000 events streak going, making it 28 successive set wins in a row, a record-extending effort.

“I felt like the serve helped me quite a lot today, especially in important moments and in the tie-break, so I’m happy about that,” said Sinner as quoted by ATP’s official website.

“At the same time, I know that if I want to go far in this tournament, I have to improve from the back of the court. Tomorrow is a day off, which helps me, and I will try to find a good rhythm in the practice session. Then we will see how things go,” he said.

“It is completely different conditions to last night, so I am happy with how I fought. It was very close. A very close match against Alex. He is a tough opponent, so I’m very happy,” he added.

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Sinner won 90 per cent of his points behind his first serve during the win and would be aiming to produce a dominant show against 19th seed Frances Tiafoe in the quarterfinal. The Italian said that he did not feel he played his best tennis during the match, so “he tried to find a way through”. “I know myself a little bit better now, so I know that every day can be a little bit different,” he added.

Despite Sinner’s class, nothing could stop Michelsen from producing some magic. When the American was serving at 5-3, Sinner capitalised to break back and kept hopes of a 14th successive straight sets Masters 1000 win alive. Michelsen managed to take things into a tie-break, where Sinner dominated proceedings by winning six out of the next seven points to seal the match.

With this win, Sinner’s head-to-head record against Michelsen is 3-0. The 24-year-old Italian is the third man to reach the quarter-finals in all of his first five Miami Open appearances, joining Yannick Noah and Stefan Edberg. (ANI)