Jannik Sinner continued his superlative record on the hard courts, while Frances Tiafoe was forced to retire at the Cincinnati Masters on Wednesday.
The world No. 1 saw off veteran Adrian Mannarino 6-4, 7-6(4) in a match that included a long interruption for a rain break in Cincinnati, with Sinner’s dominant first serve ensuring he eased into another ATP Tour Masters 1000 quarter-final.
Remarkably, he won 97% of the points when he landed his thudding first serve, which translated to 31 points won out of 32.
It was a spectacular statistic for Sinner, but he may feel he can improve in his next match as he only landed 52% of his first serves, as he found the target on 32 occasions amid 62 attempts.
The only time Mannarino won a point when Sinner landed a first serve was at 6-5 in the second set, as he broke serve and took the set into a tie-break.
Sinner won that with something to spare and confirmed he was content with his progress as he looks to defend his Cincinnati Masters title.
“He’s a tough opponent,” said Sinner. “Very different to all the other opponents. Not only because he is a leftie but also how he hits the ball – it’s very low.
“I struggled a bit to close it out but this can happen in this sport and I’m very happy to be in the next round.”
Meanwhile, Tiafoe is facing up to a rankings nightmare after he was forced to pull out of his match against Holger Rune at the Cincinnati Masters due to injury.
Tiafoe lost in last year’s Cincinnati final against Jannik Sinner and then went all the way to the semi-finals of the US Open a few weeks later.
That means he is defending a whopping total of 1,450 points from the same period last year, which makes up a large bulk of the rankings points currently on his total.
Tiafoe has 2,890 and he will now lose points from his withdrawal in Cincinnati, but the concern must be that he fails to recover in time to play at the US Open.
The American has already dropped down from No. 14 to No. 17 in the live ATP Rankings and he could slide outside of the top 30 of the ATP Rankings if he fails to recover in time to play in New York.
The problem appeared to be affecting his lower back and while he tried to carry on his match against Rune, it was clear that the 27-year-old was in real discomfort before he conceded defeat in his battle with his body.
“From 4-4, when I got the break and at 5-4 when he had the medical timeout, that’s when I felt something was not right with him,” said Rune.
“I could see he was struggling a little bit. As the game is, I tried to move him as much as possible. It’s never nice to finish a match like this and I wish him the best recovery.”
