Jannik Sinner has warned there is still room for improvement with his remodelled serve after setting another personal best in his Australian Open title defence.
Sinner sent down a whopping 19 aces to march into the quarter-finals with a 6-1 6-3 7-6 (7-2) win over fellow Italian Luciano Darderi at Margaret Court Arena on Monday.
In contrast to his four-set battle with Eliot Spizzirri, in which he cramped and looked in huge bother under extreme heat, Sinner was in control from the outset against Darderi.
Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today
He breezed through the first set and while Darderi made a more aggressive start to the second, the underdog quickly lost his way.
Darderi smashed a racquet and copped a code violation for ball abuse, blowing up in the process of dropping the third game of the second set on serve.
“This is interesting here — that racquet cracked. He’s about to play this point with a cracked racquet to try and avoid a fine,” Ryan Harrison said in commentary.
John Fitzgerald added: “I think it’d be worth taking the fine and getting a good racquet right here because this is vital that he holds serve.”
As Harrison asked what Darderi’s thought process was, Colin Fleming replied: “I don’t think there’s any thought when you’re seeing red. I think that’s what’s happened.”
After Darderi blasted a ball high into the air Fitzgerald said: “I think he’s just snapped twice.”
The 23-year-old then required treatment on his injury and it looked as if Sinner would cruise to victory over his hobbled opponent.
But Darderi showed fight and Sinner had to survive four break points at 4-4 in the third set, before sealing the match in a tiebreak.
He was 0-2 down in the tiebreak before rattling off seven straight points.
“It was very, very difficult,” Sinner said.
“First of all, we are good friends off the court. It’s also that difficulty to also put away.
“I felt like in the third set I had a couple of great chances and couldn’t use them.
“Then it got very, very tight, so I’m very happy that I closed it in three sets.
“I tried to raise my level. I started off very well the match and also how I closed with some really important pressure points.”
Darderi might have needed time to cool down before speaking highly of Sinner after a fiery finish to the match.
Serving to stay in it in the third set, Darderi took issue with Sinner ordering a fan to keep quiet between his opponent’s first and second serves.
Darderi struck a double fault to hand Sinner his second match point then gestured towards the chair umpire to suggest Sinner was in the wrong.
“There’s a bit of byplay here between these two, I think,” Fitzgerald said.
“Darderi has a point.”
Fleming said: “Yeah, just disrupting the rhythm a little.”
Darderi saved the match point but frustrations between the pair were clear.
“Getting a sense these two might be getting under each other’s skin?” Fleming asked, with Fitzgerald agreeing there was “a bit of tension”.
“You guys are reading that correctly,” Harrison added.
“Sinner’s understanding that this guy’s really coming out with everything he’s got — there’s a seriousness in the air and a little bit of small animosity building.”
But the pair smiled and hugged at the net after Sinner wrapped up the win.
“Glad to see a nice embrace at the end and a congratulatory message from Darderi there, and applause (from Sinner). Not easy to play your countryman,” Fitzgerald said.
Sinner’s 19 aces was the highest single-match tally in the four-time major champion’s career, an improvement on the 18 he fired in a second-round win over local James Duckworth.
“We put a lot of work in, especially with the serve,” Sinner said.
“We changed a bit in motion and I feel for sure a little bit more confident.
“I feel like there’s still room to improve, which is normal, but I’m very happy with how I’ve come back in the new season.
“Because at the end of (last) season I served very well, but now it’s for sure a bit more stable.”
Now on an 18-match winning streak at Melbourne Park, Sinner looked firmly in control during the first two sets against Darderi, who required treatment on a left quadriceps injury before the third set.
But the world No.2 was made to dig deep and vary his tactics in order to seal the result as his countryman refused to lie down.
“I try to go a bit more to the net and being slightly more unpredictable, which today I think worked really, really well,” Sinner said.
“Now let’s see what’s coming.”
Sinner will take on the winner of Monday’s late match between American eighth seed Ben Shelton and 12th-seeded Norwegian Casper Ruud in the quarter-finals.
Read more Aus Open news
Shayne Hope and Glenn Valencich
Read More