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Sinner marks return with routine victory at Italian Open

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Jannik Sinner marked his return to action with a routine victory over Mariano Navone at the Italian Open on Saturday. 

Sinner, playing in his first match in three months following his doping ban, eased to a 6-3 6-4 win in one hour and 38 minutes in Rome. 

The Italian started strongly in the contest, earning a break in the fourth game before cruising to the first set as the home crowd cheered every point he won. 

And Sinner continued his dominance in the second, finding a break in the seventh game, though Navone responded immediately to keep himself in the contest. 

But the world number one regained composure to see out the victory, sealing the win with a fierce ace to extend his winning streak to 22 matches. 

His reward for the victory is a tie against lucky loser Jesper de Jong, who raced past Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. 

Earlier in the day, Marcos Giron stunned compatriot and fourth seed Taylor Fritz to reach the third round at a clay-court Masters 1000 for the second time in his career. 

Giron emerged a 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-3) victor, coming from 4-0 down in the second set to seal a date with Hubert Hurkacz in the next round. 

Madrid Open champion Casper Ruud also endured a difficult third-round test against Alexander Bublik, but he was able to edge the thrilling three-set encounter. 

Ruud won 6-4 4-6 6-3 to extend his winning run to seven games, and will be hoping to continue his momentum in Rome, where he has reached the semi-finals three times.

Data Debrief: Welcome back

Playing in his first match in 104 days, his longest spell without a game since the Coronavirus pandemic (194 days), it proved to be business as usual for Sinner. 

Indeed, Sinner is the youngest player to achieve 22 or more consecutive match wins since Juan Martin del Potro (23 wins in a row between Stuttgart and the US Open 2008).

He is also the second-youngest player in the Open Era to win his first six opening matches in men's singles main draws at the Italian Open, older only than Mats Wilander (1982-1988).