WHAT HAPPENED: Jannik Sinner can see the path ahead, and for a man with designs on hoisting a US Open trophy in 10 days’ time, he knows the opening rounds are not the time to waste energy or log unneeded miles that could prove discomfiting later on.
A man on a mission, Sinner was clinical Thursday afternoon in Arthur Ashe Stadium, turning a potential tricky matchup into a routine victory, 6-4, 6-0, 6-2, over the fast-rising young American Alex Michelsen.
With the win, the tournament’s top seed marches into the third round at the US Open for a fourth consecutive year as he looks to add a Tiffany trophy to the title he won at the Australian Open earlier this season.
“[I'm] very happy to be through against a very tough opponent,” Sinner said afterward. “I always enjoy playing here, and every match is different, has its own story, but today I’m very happy, so we’ll see what’s coming.”
Michelsen started confidently. Buoyed by a tight two-set loss to Sinner in Cincinnati (6-4, 7-5) and a run to the Winston-Salem Open final, the 20-year-old California native had every reason to believe he had a chance against the world No. 1.
Two hours later, he wore the dismayed look of many a Sinner foe, gesturing to his box and looking to the heavens, with disbelief at the precision of Sinner’s ground strokes and dismay as passing shots whistled past.
Sinner would finish the match with 28 winners to 24 unforced errors, but more telling, he frustrated Michelsen into 32 unforced errors (against just 13 winners). And he dominated the American’s usually sturdy serve, breaking him seven times and winning an absurd 83% (25 of 30) of Michelsen’s second-serve offerings. Sinner also thrived when his opponent pressed forward, with Michelsen winning just 7 of 21 points at net.
Michelsen, who entered the Open ranked a career-best No. 49, was a game opponent in the early going, rebounding from an early break to level the first set at 4-4. It would be the last game he would win for some time.
Sinner benefitted from some good fortune—a Michelsen service winner negated by a let cord, a ball that Michelsen was certain was out proving to have caught the very edge of the line—to earn the break for a 5-4 advantage.
From there, Sinner served out the set and took complete control of the match. The Italian broke again to open the second set, and suddenly, the rout was on, Sinner suffocating the baseline to overwhelm Michelsen and closing it out with a forehand volley winner in a tidy 1 hour, 39 minutes.
WHAT IT MEANS: Sinner has been the world’s best hard-court player for the past 12 months—winning six of the 11 hard-court events he’s entered during that span—and would cement his world No. 1 ranking by adding a US Open crown to the title he won in Melbourne to kick off the year.
His draw, however, is rough. Sinner will be an overwhelming favorite in his next match, against world No. 87 Christopher O'Connell, but after that has potential encounters with Tommy Paul (Round of 16), 2021 US Open champion Daniil Medvedev (quarterfinals) and 2022 Open winner Carlos Alcaraz (semifinals), with four-time titlist Novak Djokovic looming as a potential opponent in the final.
MATCH POINT: The US Open is the only major at which Sinner hasn’t reached the semifinals or better. His best previous result was the quarterfinals in 2022, and he fell in the fourth round in 2021 and 2023.
