Sinner flies high in Barcelona and meets the intractable Tsitsipas

Jannick Sinner, 19, is being one of the wonders of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell that celebrates this Friday of Sant Jordi its quarterfinals. The Italian has aired in two sets 6-2 and 7-6 (6) to the Monte Carlo finalist and number 7 in the ranking Andrey Rublev, who despite having a 5-4 in favor in the tie-break of the second set has seen how his opponent has turned the game around and left him out of competition. Like the champions, Sinner closed the game with an ace and is already waiting for his next opponent, the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, that has not given the Canadian a choice Felix Auger-Aliassime (6-3 and 6-3).

With ease from the first point, Sinner was more confident and deeper than Rublev in his punches. The Russian tennis player, who already suffered in the round of 16 to knock out Albert Ramos in three sets, had just played the final in Monte Carlo but in this Godó had not shown such finesse. Nervous at times, throwing the racket or cursing in previous games, he did not express his discomfort against Sinner so much, aware that the first set only had one dominator (6-2). The Italian, number 19 in the world, finalist this 2021 in Miami, showed his range of resources.

Sinner dominated his especially his serve, as he did not give a break in this overwhelming first set. Energetic, he was confident with his second serve, where at the end of the match he averaged 61% of points won, almost as much as with his first (63%). But Rublev fought back and brought the second set to a mental limit. With 5-4 in favor, after coming back from 2-3, Sinner had eight points in a row and was placed 5-5 and 0-40. When everything indicated that the game was going to end on the fast track, Rublev turned the score around and forced the tiebreaker.

In that tie-break, again, the scoreboard changed rapidly, both tennis players moving due to inertia, as if they were displaced by the wind. Sinner went from 4-1 in favor to 4-5 against to end up winning 8-6. A demonstration of its growth. If in this 2021 they have proposed to finish among the top ten of the circuit, they are making merits so that their objectives come true. In the Godó already cause a sensation.

Tsitsipas solid against the talented Canadian

Right after, on the Rafa Nadal court, Stefanos Tsitsipas (number five ATP) got rid of the 20-year-old Canadian Felix Augie-Aliassime by 6-3 and 6-3. The world number 20 displayed good tennis, as in the entire tournament, with a powerful serve that helped him win several games with little opposition from the Greek, but his rival behaved unchanged in both sets, with long strokes and left that they raised the applause of the spectators on the center court.

In the previous confrontations between the two, Tsitsipas dominated by three victories to two, but that equality has not starred in the duel in Barcelona. Tsitsipas took advantage of the three breaks he had in the match, so keeping his serves from more than 200 km / h was already worth him to win a game that barely lasted one hour and 22 minutes.