US Open: Jannik Sinner soars into third round with win over Lorenzo Sonego, Draper advances

Jennik Sinner. Pic/AFP

While some top-draw players made early exits from the U.S. Open tennis championship, Italy's No.6 seed Jennik Sinner stormed into the third round with a straight sets victory over compatriot Lorenzo Sonego on Thursday.

In a second-round clash on a sun-kissed Louis Armstrong Stadium, Sinner improved to a perfect 10 10-0 his head-to-head record against Sonego with a 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 victory.

In another match on Thursday, Jack Draper stepped up his return to Tour on Thursday with a 6-2, 6-4, 7-5 triumph against World No. 17 Hubert Hurkacz.

Draper was consistent throughout the two-hour, nine-minute clash, frequently making returns off the Hurkacz serve to neutralise rallies. The lefty committed just 22 unforced errors and broke five times to reach the third round at the hard-court major for the second time.

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Sinner, the World No. 6, was rock solid on serve, dropping just 10 points on serve and not offering up any break point chances in the over two hours, five minutes encounter.

He also continued to back himself at the net, winning 21 from 24 net approaches. He has found himself at net 50 times in two matches this fortnight.

Sonego arrived for the second-round clash with 21 match wins thus far this season, while Sinner strolled on with 42 victories this campaign.

Sinner is hoping to qualify for the first time for the ATP Finals on home soil in Turin. He has a commanding hold on fourth place in the ATP Race To Turin, where he holds a 705-point lead over fifth-placed Stefanos Tsitsipas, who fell in the second round at Flushing Meadows.

Sinner continued to show a willingness to come forward, losing just three of 24 net points after winning 17 of 26 net approaches in the opening round against Yannick Hanfmann. He hit 27 winners to just 15 unforced errors.

(With IANS inputs)