Sinner surges in Montreal opener

pTop seed a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/jannik-sinner/s0ag/overview'Jannik Sinner/a began his title defence in dominant fashion Thursday at the Omnium Banque National preacute;senteacute; par Rogers. Competing in his first singles match 30 days on from his a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/wimbledon/540/overview'Wimbledon/a quarter-final run, the Italian raced past Croatian a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/borna-coric/cg80/overview'Borna Coric/a 6-2, 6-4 in Montreal./p

pSinner produced high-quality ballstriking and showed no signs of rust once he found his rhythm in the early stages. The 22-year-old, who missed the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/scores/archive/paris/96/2024/results'Paris Olympics/a due to tonsillitis, dropped just four points behind his first serve in what was his first hard-court match since winning the Miami title in March./p

pldquo;Irsquo;ve been here for a little bit so Irsquo;m maybe a bit more used to the conditions, but still, Irsquo;m very happy about the performance,rdquo; Sinner said. ldquo;It was a very tough match. Even if you watched the score, it felt closer for sure. I had to save a break point in the second set and if he makes that one it could potentially change the match. It was a very good mindset today and Irsquo;ll try to keep going.rdquo;/p

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pThe 14-time tour-level titlist honed in on deep returning to pressure Coric early in rallies. Sinner created 11 break chances, converting three of them, according to Infosys ATP Stats./p

p"Today I felt like I was hitting the ball quite cleanly," said Sinner, who is in the doubles quarter-finals alongside a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/jack-draper/d0co/overview'Jack Draper/a. "Itrsquo;s very tough to play here, itrsquo;s a bit breezy and windy and the ball flies a bit, so we try to get better day by day. Today was for sure a very positive day, so letrsquo;s see whatrsquo;s coming."/p

pSinner's title run last year at the Canadian ATP Masters 1000 event marked his first trophy at that level. Turning 23 next week, Sinner has since soared to No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings. He boasts a 43-4 season record and leads the ATP Tour in hard-court wins (23) this year./p

pAiming for his fifth title of the season, Sinner meets 15th seed a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/alejandro-tabilo/te30/overview'Alejandro Tabilo/a in the Round of 16. The Canadian-born Chilean ousted a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/lorenzo-sonego/su87/overview'Lorenzo Sonego/a 6-4, 6-2. It will mark Sinner's first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with Tabilo, who in Rome upset a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/novak-djokovic/d643/overview'Novak Djokovic/a for his first win against a World No. 1./p

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