By Shrivathsa Sridhar
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Defending U.S. Open champion Jannik Sinner continued his stellar run at the hardcourt Grand Slams with a 6-1 6-1 6-1 hammering of Kazakh 23rd seed Alexander Bublik on Monday to make the quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows.
The Italian came into the evening match on Labour Day at Arthur Ashe Stadium looking for his 25th straight major match win on his preferred surface and he never looked in any trouble against a tricky opponent after shooting out of the blocks.
“We know each other well. We’ve had some tough battles this year so we know each other a bit better,” the top seed said.
“He had a tough match last time, finishing late. He didn’t serve as well as he does. I broke him in every set and it gave me the confidence to play well.
“My first night session match, it makes such a difference. Thanks everyone for coming, this is such a special occasion for us players.”
A double break helped Sinner build a 4-0 lead before Bublik could even get on the board, and the dominant 24-year-old chased down a drop shot to fire home a deep backhand winner that wrapped up the opening set with another break.
Bublik’s attempts to disrupt Sinner’s rhythm with more drop shots proved futile but it was his service errors that left him trailing by two sets, before Sinner wheeled away to his eighth straight major quarter-final.
Up next for Sinner is a meeting with compatriot Lorenzo Musetti and he said it would be a great occasion for Italian tennis.
“It’s great to see. Italian tennis is in great form. We have so many players and different game styles,” he said.
“Lorenzo is one of the biggest talents we have in our sport. I’m looking forward to this one. From an Italian point of view, it’s great to have for sure one Italian player in the semis.
“I know that there are a lot of Italian players in the crowd. It makes everything special.”
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in New York; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Peter Rutherford)
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