NEW YORK (AP) — Jannik Sinner was so dominant Monday night at the U.S. Open that his opponent had to remind him after the match that he's not that bad of a player.
Sinner sure made Alexander Bublik look like one, though.
Sinner overwhelmed the only player other than Carlos Alcaraz who has defeated him this season, routing Bublik 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 to return to the quarterfinals of the tournament he won last year.
The top-seeded Sinner's victory took just 1 hour, 21 minutes, the second-shortest completed match in the tournament. A first-round victory for Tomas Machac was a minute shorter.
“At times I felt like today I was playing some great tennis, and I managed to break him very early, which then gave me the confidence to serve a little bit better and play from the back of the court a bit better,” Sinner said.
“It was a faster, or a fast match.”
Sinner lost to Bublik in June in Halle, Germany, in a warm-up tournament before Wimbledon, but that was played on a grass court. Trying to beat the defending U.S. Open champion on a hard court is an entirely different story — and almost impossible these days.
Sinner has won 25 straight Grand Slam matches on that surface, including the last two Australian Open titles, along with his first U.S. Open trophy last year.
He will face fellow Italian Lorenzo Musetti, the No. 10 seed, on Wednesday. The other quarterfinal that day will pit No. 8 Alex de Minaur against No. 25 Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Bublik, the No. 23 seed from Kazakhstan, had been one of the hottest players in tennis, with an ATP Tour-leading 11 straight victories and three titles, which is tied for the second-best this year behind Alcaraz's six.
He had won all 55 service games coming into this match, yet Sinner broke him eight times.
Bublik could only smile at times, including after the match, when he told Sinner at the net that “I'm not bad.”
But he wasn't nearly good enough against Sinner, who had an 86-46 advantage in points won. Bublik helped by committing 13 double-faults.
Sinner noted that Bublik had a late finish Saturday night in his five-set victory over No. 14 seed Tommy Paul, and tried to test his energy level Monday in his first night match of this tournament.
“I tried to move him around, trying to see how he moves, trying to put it more on the physical side,” Sinner said. “Today I played some good tennis at times. At times he gave me some free points.”
Sinner improved to 35-4 this year. Alcaraz beat him in the French Open final and also in Rome and Cincinnati — where Sinner was ill and had to stop playing in the first set.
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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
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Brian Mahoney, The Associated Press
