Fourth seed Jannik Sinner beat 16th seed Yoshihito Nishioka 6-1 4-6 6-3 in a third round match at the Barcelona Open on Thursday. The match lasted for a little more than two and a half hours, as the 21-year-old Italian managed to register a win.
However, the 27-year-old Japanese man did not give up without a fight and was helped by Sinner’s inconsistency at times. On that note, we will now take a look at how the match went on:
How Jannik Sinner beat Yoshihito Nishioka at the Barcelona Open
Nishioka’s forehand with top spin kept targeting Sinner’s backhand:
Nishioka kept playing his crosscourt forehand repeatedly towards Jannik Sinner’s backhand wing. However, the Italian managed to hold his own with his backhand and kept returning the ball with aplomb. Nishioka lost three consecutive points in the fourth game of the first set to lose his serve.
Jannik Sinner then broke the Japanese man once again in the first set to win the first set with consummate ease. However, the Japanese then won the second set coming from behind. At one stage, Sinner looked in a commanding position while serving at 4-3 in the second set, but committed a few unforced errors to allow his opponent to come back into the match.
Nishioka’s lack of power helped Jannik Sinner as the match progressed:
As the match progressed, Nishioka kept imparting more top spin into his forehand, but he often lacked the power and penetration to hit through the Italian. As he played his shots higher, it gave Sinner enough time to set up his shots and the latter did not have much problem in overpowering the Japanese.
Jannik Sinner thus got the decisive break of serve and went on to finish the match off. Nishioka could win only 46% of the points on his weaker first serve in the match, while Sinner managed a more respectable 64%. That was one of the several differences between the two players.
Main Photo Credit: Mike Frey-USA TODAY Sports
