When Jannik Sinner plays at the US Open: who is Alexei Popyrin and the history between the two
After a comfortable debut against Czech Vit Kopriva, which brought to 22 the number of consecutive matches he has won in a Grand Slam tournament on cement, Jannik Sinner is set to play the second round of the U.S. Open against Australian of clear Russian descent Alexei Popyrin.
26-year-old born in Sydney, Popyrin reached his best ranking three weeks ago, number 19, after reaching the quarterfinals in Cincinnati, but now, due to lost points from his triumph a year ago in the Canadian Open in Montreal, the most important of his three career tournament wins, he is number 36.
The world number 1 will start as a clear favorite but will have to be careful not to underestimate his opponent. In fact, there is only one precedent between the two, which dates back to 2021 and is in Popyrin’s favor: in the second round of the Masters 1000 on clay in Madrid, it was the Australian, who was world number 76 at the time, who won by a score of 7-6 6-2 over Sinner, who was number 18.
The Australian will be the clear favorite.
The match will be played on Thursday, Aug. 28, as the second match on the court of the Arthur Ashe Stadium, the main court at Flushing Meadows, and will begin at the end of the women’s second round match between Dutchwoman Suzan Lamens and Poland’s Iga Swiatek, which will begin at 5:30 p.m. Italian time. Sinner will then begin play no earlier than 6:40-7 p.m.
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