Jannik Sinner gets off to a bad start: he’s down against Khachanov
Jannik Sinner gets off to a bad start: è down against Khachanov
Jannik Sinner loses the first set of the Madrid Masters 1000 round of 16 against Karen Khachanov: the Russian tennis player wins 7-5 thanks to a break in the eleventh game, taking the lead in the challenge against the Blue, who is not at his best due to a hip problem.
Initial balance in the first set, the serves have the upper hand. The world number two apart from a somewhat problematic start has no problems at the serve, but at the same time he doesn't find the right countermeasures to oppose Khachanov's serve, perhaps also affected by the hip trouble. In the 11th game comes a surprise break for the Russian, who takes advantage of a double fault by Jannik and immediately seizes the opportunity by stealing service from the Italian, who then is unable to react. 7-5 Khachanov.
Sinner decided to play overcoming the doubts of the last few hours, after the hip resentment suffered Monday during the match against Russian Pavel Kotov. The Italian tested his condition in training a few hours before the match and together with his staff decided to continue the tournament.
In the past few days, the South Tyrolean tennis player has specified several times that he considers the Madrid Masters 1000 as a transition tournament, ahead of the Internazionali d'Italia and Roland Garros scheduled in the coming weeks.
