Jannik Sinner faced a challenging test when he started his 2023 grass-court season, but he weathered the test well at the Libema Open, ‘s-Hertogenbosch.
The second seed found a way to neutralize Kazakh Alexander Bublik’s heavy serve for a convincing 6-4, 6-2 win in the second round of the Libema Open. he converted three of the 12 break point opportunities he created in a match that lasted 84 minutes.
“Competing against him is never easy,” admits Sinner. “He serves very well, he can play every shot, so I have to be very careful. From my side, I think I served well in the crucial moments. For me, it’s a special tournament, because in 2019 I won my first grass-court match here and for sure, the support here is always very nice. That means a lot.”
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The 21-year-old lacks grass-court experience after only going 5-5, but the 2022 Wimbledon quarter-finalist once again showed just how effective his deadly groundstrokes can be on grass against Bublik.
“I am developing, but I am still very young,” replied the third Jannik Sinner when asked how he had changed since his previous appearance at the 2019 season of ‘s-Hertogenbosch.
“I learned many things. My position is very different, now it is much better. But I know I can still improve a lot.”
Opposing Sinner in the quarterfinals of the Libema Open was Finnish national Emil Ruusuvuori who won 6-2 6-7 6-4 over seventh seed Ugo Humbert.
The quarter-final will be Ruusuvuori’s second quarter-final of the season against the Italian and the Italian won in straight sets when they met in the Miami Open quarter-finals earlier this season.
In another action, US tennis player, Mackenzie McDonald was surprisingly able to beat the third seed, Borna Coric with 6-4, 6-4. For a place in the semifinals of the Libema Open, McDonald will face Australian tennis player, Rinky Hijikata, who fought it out to save Swiss tennis player, Marc Andrea Huesler with 2-6, 7-5, 6-3.
