{"id":36869,"date":"2026-01-20T12:04:46","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T12:04:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=36869"},"modified":"2026-01-20T12:04:46","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T12:04:46","slug":"sinner-into-melbourne-round-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=36869","title":{"rendered":"Sinner into Melbourne round two"},"content":{"rendered":"
Jannik Sinner strolled into the second round of the Australian Open on Tuesday when his opponent retired with the two-time defending champion in full control.<\/p>\n

The Italian second seed led 6-2, 6-1 when France’s Hugo Gaston called it quits with an apparent injury after 68 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.<\/p>\n

Sinner faces Australian qualifier James Duckworth or Dino Prizmic of Croatia next.<\/p>\n

“I saw that he was not serving at pace. It’s not the way you want to win the match, but he’s such a talented player,” said Sinner.<\/p>\n

“So I knew from the beginning that I had to play a very high level and was trying to be as aggressive as possible, which I’ve done.<\/p>\n

“I’m very happy to be back here, it\u2019s a very special place for me.”<\/p>\n

Sinner had made a sticky start, falling 40-0 down on his serve in the first game of the match, before rattling off three aces to hold.<\/p>\n

It was about the only blip as the 24-year-old quickly found his devastating range to assert his authority over the 93rd-ranked Frenchman.<\/p>\n

Sinner, who comfortably defeated Alexander Zverev in the final 12 months ago, raced to the first set in 37 minutes.<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old Gaston had brief treatment between sets from the trainer and when they resumed Sinner tightened his grip on the contest.<\/p>\n

Sinner romped through the second set and Gaston shook hands.<\/p>\n

Should he win three titles in a row in Melbourne, Sinner would join Novak Djokovic as the only men in the Open era to do so.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bencic makes light work of Boulter<\/p>\n

In-form Belinda Bencic swatted aside an erratic Katie Boulter for the loss of five games on Tuesday to fire a warning shot at the Australian Open.<\/p>\n

Tenth seed Belinda Bencic swatted aside Britain’s Katie Boulter at the Australian Open.<\/p>\n

Switzerland’s Bencic, back in the top 10 for the first time since having a baby, was emphatic in winning the first set 6-0 in just 26 minutes on Margaret Court Arena.<\/p>\n

The Briton made her work harder in the second set before the 10th seed came home 7-5.<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old Bencic arrived in Melbourne on the back of winning all five singles matches at the mixed teams United Cup, including victories over world number two Iga Swiatek and seventh-ranked Jasmine Paolini.<\/p>\n

It earned Bencic the event’s most valuable player award and propelled her inside the world’s top 10, somewhere she has not been since giving birth to daughter Bella in April 2024.<\/p>\n

“It helped so much to start the season well,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I feel so comfortable here in Australia. The energy is great.<\/p>\n

“I’m really trying to play the Australian Open for Team Switzerland,” she added, referencing the vibe she felt playing for her country at the United Cup.<\/p>\n

Bencic broke Boulter immediately and consolidated to love before breaking again to take firm control at the onset.<\/p>\n

An out-of-sorts Boulter won just four points across the opening three games and it didn’t get any better, with Bencic racing through the opening set.<\/p>\n

Boulter, with fiance Alex De Minaur watching courtside, was a different player in the second set, finally finding some traction to hold serve in the opening game.<\/p>\n

Broken again in game seven, Boulter bounced back immediately to make a match of it. But Bencic kept coming and ultimately was just too good.<\/p>\n

Bencic was ranked 421 at the start of the 2025 season, but making the last 16 at the Australian Open a year ago convinced her she could return to the upper echelons of tennis.<\/p>\n

Titles in Abu Dhabi and Tokyo saw her race back up the rankings.\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jannik Sinner strolled into the second round of the Australian Open on Tuesday when his opponent retired with the two-time defending champion in full control. The Italian second seed led 6-2, 6-1 when France’s Hugo Gaston called it quits with an apparent injury after 68 minutes on Rod Laver Arena. Sinner faces Australian qualifier James […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36869\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}