Janik Sinner begins U.S. Open title defence with breezy first round win against Vit Kopriva

Wimbledon No. 1 Janik Sinner commenced his U.S. Open title defence with a three-set win against Vit Kopriva on Tuesday, having recovered from the illness that bothered him in the Cincinnati grand finale.Sinner had retired hurt in the summit clash against Carlos Alcaraz, but claims to have completely bounced back from that sickness. The Italian is now poised to play Australian Alexei Popyrin in the second round.”Very happy that I’m healthy again, that we did our best to be in the best possible shape here,” said Sinner.

Jannik Sinner on how his rivalry with Carlos Alcaraz has changed, ‘When we were very, very young, it was a match where you just go on court & just hit. Now we have to prepare tactically, emotionally, & mentally’“You know, three years back I felt like
we were getting to know… pic.twitter.com/ibj5drUtRI
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) August 26, 2025The Italian sprinted through the first five games of the opening set, where he produced only a handful of unforced errors and dropped just two of his first-serve points.Kopriva never got a leg up on his opponent, slipping and falling to the court in the final game of the second set as he chased a shot near the baseline before handing Sinner another break with a double fault on the next point.The Czech cleaned up his act in the third set as Sinner got a bit sloppier, putting up nine unforced errors, but the Italian extinguished both break points he faced.Sinner entered Flushing Meadows a year ago in a cloud of controversy over doping allegations but the crowd was firmly on his side this time as he clinched victory with a beautiful backhand winner that just kissed the line.”Feels great to be back here, obviously it’s a very special tournament,” said Sinner.Sinner accepted a three-month suspension for doping in February, having tested positive for a banned substance last year, following a settlement with the World Anti-Doping Agency.(With Reuters inputs)First Published: Aug 27, 2025 8:03 PM IST

Source link