Sinner storms into USO quarters

Jannik Sinner stepped up his title defence at the US Open with a 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 beatdown of Alexander Bublik to claim his place in the quarter-finals.

The world No. 1 needed a mere 83 minutes to reach the last eight and move closer to a possible showdown with rival Carlos Alcaraz, firing 24 winners and profitting from 31 unforced errors – including 13 double-faults – off the racquet of his Kazakh opponent.

Sinner moved into a clash with fellow Italian Lorenzo Musetti, who cracked a run of modest form as he hammered Jaume Munar 6-3, 6-0, 6-1 in the fourth round.

The Sinner-Musetti match marks the first time in history multiple Italian men have reached quarter-finals of all four Grand Slams in a season – with Sinner and Musetti also playing in this stage at Roland Garros.

Sinner made no apologies for his inadvertent humiliation of an opponent obviously off the boil in a major way.

“Sometimes we have days off where certain things don’t work. Some players, they have some problems behind the scenes, you never know,” the top seed said.

“At times I felt like I was playing some great tennis, and I managed to break
him very early. That gave me the confidence to serve a little bit better and play from the back of the court a bit better.

“It was a fast match, but from my point of view, it’s good. Obviously people come here to see some great tennis matches, some great battles, and not always that’s the case.

“But it was a good performance from my side.”

Sinner will be playing in his eighth consecutive last-eight match at a major when he takes on Musetti.

Sinner’s victory marked his eighth consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal appearance as he seeks his third Grand Slam trophy of the season after the Australian Open and Wimbledon.

Bublik came to the court as a potential spoiler after winning his previous 11 matches including three summer titles.

But Sinner seized the opening set in 23 minutes as he played at night for the first time at this edition before finishing off the rout in a sprint as he dealt with the occasional trademark underhand serve from Bublik.

Main photo:- Jannik Sinner through to the US Open quarter finals – by Mark Greenwood/Grandslamtennis