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Jannik Sinner extended his winning run on hard courts to 25 matches with a ruthless dismissal of Félix Auger-Aliassime in the Cincinnati Open quarter-finals. Playing in his first tournament since lifting his fourth grand slam title at Wimbledon, the world No 1 and defending champion powered to a 6-0, 6-2 victory against the Canadian.
Auger-Aliassime had won both his previous matches against Sinner but could offer little resistance on Thursday, with the 23-year-old Italian beginning and ending the contest with runs of six games in a row, completing victory in just 71 minutes.
Sinner, who will now will face either the Dane Holger Rune or the French qualifier Terence Atmane, has not been beaten on his favourite surface since a loss to Carlos Alcaraz in Beijing in early October last year. “I felt like I was returning very well,” said Sinner, who became only the fifth man this century to record 25 consecutive victories on the surface, after Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray. “That was my key point, which gave me the confidence to serve well.
“I had a small drop in the second set when he broke me. I’m happy I broke him back quite early. I felt like I was performing some great tennis.”
In the women’s fourth round, the second seed, Coco Gauff, saw off Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti 6-2, 6-4 and faces a quarter-final match against the seventh seed, Jasmine Paolini, who eased to a 6-1, 6-2 victory over former Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova.
“For the most part I played aggressive,” said Gauff. “Maybe there were a couple of times that were a little bit passive in some of those games but it’s tough – the balls are super light and she wasn’t giving me much pace. I was just trying to play controlled but also aggressive and, for the most part, I think I did well.”
Meanwhile, former world No 6 Matteo Berrettini has withdrawn from the US Open, tournament organisers said yesterday. The Italian, ranked 59th, has not competed since a first-round loss at Wimbledon after he had recovered from an abdominal injury.
Berrettini skipped the Swiss Open in Gstaad and the Masters 1000 events in Toronto and Cincinnati in the buildup to the grand slam at Flushing Meadows, where he reached the semi-finals in 2019. The American Brandon Holt takes his place in the main draw, where singles action begins on 24 August.
