He has a solid serve and plays very effectively from both sides, even if he can be quite streaky at times. Sinner didn’t play any grass match this year therefore this was a proper test to start the season on the green surface for him.
The opening set had him preserve a break point early, but he didn’t surrender his serve. It arrived in a tie-break, in which the world no. 1 player enjoyed a 5-1 lead only to toss it away and lose it 8-10.
It was a pretty odd scenario but also a testament to Grieksppor’s strength. Sinner’s defeat in the first set meant that he had to be better in the second set, and he answered the challenge.
He wasn’t perfect because he still allowed break points to his opponent, but he was able to outplay him over the course of a number of games to grab away that second set, 6-3.
As the pressure increased on Griekspoor, he started to fade a bit. The final set wasn’t so fantastic for him because he kept giving the top seed decent looks, and the Italian broke him midway through the set
On his own serve, Sinner looked as good as ever sailing through the games. He was able to hold that lead and then complete it out in three sets with the final score being 6-7(8), 6-3, 6-2.
It was a nice win for Sinner, who avoided losing his debut match as the world number one. As he remarked before the event, keeping world number one will be a new task.
