Jannik Sinner punished by chair judge, the warning you don’t expect

An uphill start for Jannik Sinner in his Madrid Masters 1000 debut. On the “Manolo Santana” court, the South Tyrolean faces French qualifier Benjamin Bonzi and, surprisingly, finds himself down a set: in fact, the first partial is won by the transalpine at tie-break 7-6(6).

The world number one wastes several opportunities on a day in which he struggles to find rhythm and sensitivity with the ball. The playing conditions in the Spanish capital, characterized by the high ground, make control more complex and affect especially the service response, where Sinner fails to take advantage of the opportunities he has (five break points in the first set) and even leaves a set point on the way.

In the second partial, some nervousness on the part of the Italian, unusual for him, also emerges after some free errors including a rebound smash that ended far from the court. On the score of 1-1 (15-30 for Bonzi), there also comes a warning for exceeding the shot clock while looking for a few more seconds before the serve.

A complicated situation, with Sinner called to quickly find solutions to reverse the inertia of a technically bad day. However, the second set closed 6-1 for the Italian, who was forced to play for the passage of the round in the third partial.