Halle Open: Top seed Sinner battles past Marozsan in Halle

Italian Jannik Sinner, the top seed, won against Hungarian Fabian Marozsan 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-3 to advance to the last eight of the Halle Open at the Owl Arena/Gerry-Weber-Stadion on Thursday afternoon.

Again, the world No 1 was put under pressure on his second serve. Adopting the same approach as Tallon Griekspoor in the first round, Marozsan took big cuts at the Italian’s second serve and found success, winning 49 percent of the time.

“For sure I need to think about changing it up a little more. I may need to be more aggressive,” said Sinner of the struggles with his second serve. “I’ll need to talk to my team about that. He returned very well, especially in the beginning.

“It’s the first time I’ve faced him. He’s already beaten incredible players, so I knew I had to play really, really good,” Sinner continued.

“The first couple of matches are never easy [on grass]. This grass is a little different to Wimbledon. Fabian is an incredible player. It was a tough match and I’m pleased to be in the quarters.”

Sinner, ranked No 1, will play the winner of the match between German Jan-Lennard Struff and Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, the No 6 seed, next.

The 22-year-old Italian beat Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor (6-7 (8), 6-3, 6-2) in the previous round of the Halle tournament.

In the first round of the Halle tournament, Marozsan, ranked No 45, defeated Russian Roman Safiullin (7-5, 4-6, 6-1).

Halle ATP 500, other second-round results (Owl Arena/Gerry-Weber-Stadion, grass, EUR 2.255.655, most recent results first):

• Jan-Lennard Struff vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas
• Matteo Berrettini vs. Marcos Giron
• Hubert Hurkacz (5) beat James Duckworth (Q): 7-6 (3), 6-4
• Alexander Zverev (2) beat Lorenzo Sonego: 6-4, 7-6 (5)
• Zhizhen Zhang beat Daniil Medvedev (3): 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (5)
• Christopher Eubanks beat Alexander Bublik (7): 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-3
• Arthur Fils beat Dominik Koepfer (WC): 6-3, 6-4