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Eighth seed Jannik Sinner thrashed Alexandre Muller of France 6-1, 6-4, 6-1 in the first round of the 2023 French Open on Monday, May 29. The match lasted for around two hours, as the 21-year-old Italian had little difficulty in dismantling the Frenchman playing in front of his home crowd.
Sinner stayed on course for his first Grand Slam title and will play Daniel Altmaier of Germany in the second round on Thursday, June 1. He leads their head-to-head 1-0 at the moment and will start as the favorite to win the clash at Roland Garros.
On that note, let us take a look at two things that stood out in Jannik Sinner's win over Alexandre Muller.
#1 Jannik Sinner destroyed Alexandre Muller with his blistering stroke play in the first set
Sinner proved to be too strong for Muller in the first set, hitting winners right, left and center off either wing to take the Frenchman by surprise. It was clean ballstriking from the Italian that marked his superiority during the initial half an hour of the match.
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Muller struggled to deal with Sinner’s ferocious groundstrokes from the baseline and decided to rush to the net more frequently as the set progressed.
However, Jannik then played a few passing shots to keep the Frenchman under pressure. The Italian broke Muller twice in the first set to win it in a resounding manner.
From that point onwards, it was always going to be difficult for Muller to come back into the match.
#2 Jannik Sinner kept the pressure on Alexandre Muller with his all-court game
Sinner ventured forward more often as the match progressed. He managed to hit a lot of winners from the forecourt, including volleys and overhead smashes, to assert his supremacy.
Sinner also displayed subtle touch while playing drop shots and lobs to stun Muller, who fought better in the second set but surrendered meekly in the third.
The Italian broke Muller early in the second set to take a 2-0 lead and went on to maintain the lead. He then toyed with Muller’s serve again in the third set to finish the match off in style.
Muller’s first serve was quite innocuous and could win only 51 percent of the points on his first serve. In comparison, Sinner managed to win a much more respectable 83 percent of the points on his first delivery and was never broken in the match.
