Jannik Sinner survives Tritan Schoolkate’s test, advances to third round at Australian Open

Defending champion and top seed Jannik Sinner registered a four-set win against Tristan Schoolkate to qualify for the third round in the ongoing Australian Open. The Italian claimed a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-3 second-round triumph against home wild card Tristan Schoolkate at the Rod Laver Arena on Thursday.

Sinner showered praise on the local lad, stating he was playing better than him in the beginning.

“It’s always tough to play against a player I don’t know very well,” Sinner told John McEnroe in his on-court interview. “I felt like he was serving very well. He was playing much better in the beginning than I was. Obviously with the crowd, it was an amazing atmosphere.

“It’s a very special place, especially for Australians to play here with the home crowd, but I have to be very happy still with my performance. I never take things for granted, so I’m very happy to again be in the next round.”

Sinner was pushed in the first two sets in the opening round against Nicolas Jarry and the World No.1 admitted that every round at the Australian Open is tough.

“Every round here is very tough,” said Sinner. “Everyone who is in the first round, or second round, or third round deserves to be there. It was a very tough match. I can improve. We saw today I was struggling a bit with the wind and it was quite breezy. But I’ll take it, and it was a good chance to play here in the evening, in a night session on such a beautiful court. It was amazing.”

This is the first time when Sinner is defending a Grand Slam title and he said it’s a different feeling.

“It’s definitely a different feeling,” said Sinner, when asked about defending a Grand Slam title for the first time. “But so many different beautiful moments happened to me here, on and off the court, here in this beautiful place. It’s different, but I take it as a chance to hopefully do it again. It’s still a very long way to go. We go day by day. Seeing my level today, we know that we can improve, which is the most important. Hopefully I can show this in the next round and it will be again a great tournament for me.”

Sinner will next take on USA’s Marcos Giron on Saturday.