Australian Open: Sinner ‘feeling positive’ after win over Van de Zandschulp in first match of the season

Jannik Sinner defeated Botic van de Zandschulp 6-4, 7-5, 6-3 on Sunday night and will play the winner of the match between Dutch qualifier Jesper De Jong and Argentinian Pedro Cachin in the next round

Jannik Sinner during a practice session at the 2023 Australian Open

Jannik Sinner at the 2023 Australian Open Image Credit: AI/Reuters/Panoramic

Tennis Majors

January 14, 2024

Australian Open •First round • completed

See draw

J. SinnervsB. Van De Zandschulp

Italian Jannik Sinner, the No 4 seed, advanced to the second round of the Australian Open by winning against Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp 6-4, 7-5, 6-3 at Melbourne Park on Sunday night.

It was the first match of the season for Sinner, who elected to forego a lead up tournament in order to have a longer off-season.

He shook off the rust quickly, saving five of six break points and improving to 9-4 lifetime at the Australian Open and reaching round two at Melbourne Park for the fourth time.

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Tennis Majors

“I think, to be honest, it was a positive opening match” – Sinner after his first match of the 2024 season

“I feel like I started off actually really well, to be honest, for the first match,” Sinner told the media after hsi win. “Then after, I had some moments where I made a couple of wrong choices, but this can happen. Even if you made maybe some matches, this can happen. Maybe you are a little bit tired sometimes. Today I felt like a little bit, the match feeling, it was important today for me, because I was looking forward to step on the court. I think, to be honest, it was a positive opening match. I feel like best-of-five can help me a little bit. You stay on court a little bit longer. You get to play a little bit longer, which is what I like to do. Then we see in the next rounds what’s coming.”

Sinner, ranked No 4, will play the winner of the match between Dutch qualifier Jesper De Jong and Argentinian Pedro Cachin next.

Sinner finished with 26 winners against 37 unforced errors. He won 35 of 51 first-serve points and 24 of 37 second serve points.

“Hopefully I can show some more in the next round,” he said.

Melbourne (Grand Slam), other first-round results (Melbourne Park, hard, USD 58.910.000, most recent results first):