Jannik Sinner, far from his best standards, finishes 6-2 7-6, with the Canadian cancelling a set point in the second-set tiebreak.
Jannik Sinner flies to the round of 16 of the ATP 1000 in Cincinnati. The world number one defeated Canadian Gabriel Diallo, number 35 in the world, 6-2 7-6 (6) in the evening session of the tournament, which started an hour late due to a fire that caused a short circuit in the electrical system, with a score of 6-2 7-6 (6) in one hour and 52 minutes.
This is Sinner’s 23rd consecutive victory on hard courts (he hasn’t lost since the Beijing final against Alcaraz, last October). He is undefeated in 2025, and since the beginning of 2024 on this surface he has a record of 64 wins and 3 losses, the best percentage in history (95.5%) after Roger Federer in 2005-2006. These are frightening numbers, which only underline the absolute dominance of the Italian phenomenon on “hard” courts.
Sinner wasn’t at his best against Diallo (with Jannik clearly not entirely satisfied with his performance), but it was enough to eventually defeat the Canadian, considered one of the most in-form players on the tour, without too many problems. It was all in vain against the world number one.
In the first set, surprisingly, the North American was the first to attempt a breakaway. Sinner immediately had a break point, which was saved, but in the second game he barely played, with three double faults, one of them on break point. A shocking start, but it didn’t take long to write it off as a fluke. Sinner put things right in the next game, breaking Diallo’s serve at love, before relentlessly reeling off another five games in a row to win the set.
As we were saying, Jannik wasn’t extraordinary, especially on serve, not so much in terms of percentages as in consistency. On return, however, the Italian’s superiority was overwhelming, especially in the first. One statistic stands out: Diallo ended the first set with a 6% (!) of second-serve points, one out of 18.
Therefore, the balance (so to speak) depended exclusively on the Canadian’s first serve, but Jannik immediately managed to read the opponent’s serve, effectively nullifying any hopes the North American had. The match was made surreal, even entertaining in some ways, by the constant technical problems that, let’s say, made life difficult for the organizers today.
First, a five-minute pause in the first set due to a monitor malfunction, then at the start of the second set an alarm went off in the central stand. Incredible, but both Sinner and Diallo did what they had to do: they laughed it off and continued playing, despite a strange background noise for a few minutes. The second set was different from the first. Diallo was hitting 80% of his first serves, playing more aggressively, and taking away Sinner’s rhythm.
The world number one was getting nervous, and despite risking virtually nothing, he never managed to find the momentum to break his opponent. Jannik had the first chance at 5-5, with a break point created by two powerful backhands that was quickly saved by another beautiful first serve from the Canadian, who then hit another to take the lead 6-5. The tie-break was reached. Sinner immediately starts with a minibreak, but Diallo recovers with a powerful backhand passing shot and takes a minibreak lead, 4-2, with Jannik under pressure.
Diallo lends a hand, committing a bloody double fault at 4-3 that ties the score, and on the next point, he fires a not-so-impossible forehand into the net. It’s not over: at 5-4, Sinner misses once, and at 5-5, another shot from the Italian hits the net, and Diallo serves for the set, but Jannik works a magical return that surprises the Canadian.
The score is 6-6, Diallo nets a not-so-impossible volley, a match point for Sinner, who thanks him and calls it a day. And after the match, the number one stays on court for extra practice. Jannik shows his usual perfectionism, clearly not satisfied with his performance. In the round of 16, he’ll have to choose between Mannarino and Paul.
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