ATP Rotterdam: match balls awarded - Jannik Sinner loses thriller
18-year-old Jannik Sinner left the quarter-finals of the ATP Tour 500 tournament in Rotterdam. Sinner lost to Pablo Carreno Busta 5: 7, 6: 3 and 6: 7 (6). And awarded two match balls.
by tennisnet.com
last edit: Feb 14, 2020, 04:21 pm
Often one hears from athletes after narrow defeats that they learn a lot from these bankruptcies and will do better next time. Well, Jannik Sinner did a lot right in his ultimately lost quarter-final match against Pablo Carreno Busta. Just not the chance to move into a semi-final in the 500 category for the first time. It was 6: 4 in the tie break of the decision set for the Italian, followed by a forehand error by Sinners and a successful serve volley variant by Carreno Busta. Who also got the last two points of the match.
A little setback for Sinner, no doubt about it. In the third sentence, however, he showed just how great potential he has. After an early break he was 3: 5 behind and took the serve from his experienced opponent again. Immediately afterwards, he played the worst three points of the entire game - only to make it even out of a 0:40 and thus three match balls for Carreno Busta. And with remarkable initiative, while the Spaniards are too passive in this phase.
Sinner with new career high
Despite the disappointment, Jannik Sinner can leave Rotterdam at least with the knowledge that he will reach a new career high in the ATP world rankings. Sinner will be ranked 68th, another step towards being no longer dependent on wildcards to get into the main fields of the ATP tournaments. Head coach Riccardo Piatti and also the Italian Davis Cup captain Corrado Barazzutti noted this with pleasure in Rotterdam.
For Pablo Carreno Busta, the journey could go even further at the first ATP Tour 500 tournament of the year. He will meet either Félix Auger-Aliassime or Aljaz Bedene in the final round on Saturday, both of whom started the event unset. Just like Carreno Busta.