Sinner survives Moutet’s stunning opening burst to book QF spot

Jannik Sinner withstood an early onslaught from home favourite Corentin Moutet to seal passage to the quarter-finals with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 victory Sunday at Roland Garros.

For one remarkable opening set, the No. 79-ranked Moutet had the Court Philippe-Chatrier crowd in the palm of his hand as he dazzled the fans and Sinner with his unique variety-filled lefty game. Moutet, who let slip two chances to complete a rare bagel against the No. 2 in the PIF ATP Rankings from 5-0, 40/15, led by a set and a break at 6-2, 1-0, at which point Sinner’s comeback began.

The Australian Open champion ultimately proved too consistent from the baseline for Moutet, who battled admirably throughout but struggled to counter his opponent’s power across the second, third and fourth sets. Sinner did not seem fazed by the electric atmosphere whipped up by the home fans and he closed out victory in two hours and 41 minutes to set a quarter-final clash with Grigor Dimitrov.

“It was very tough for me. I think he played very, very well in the first set,” said Sinner in his on-court interview. “I had some chances, but he played much better than me, so I had to adjust a little bit. He had an amazing run here at Roland Garros. The atmosphere as always was amazing.

“He plays differently to most of my opponents, so it was tough for me. He is also a lefty. You don’t play so many times against left-handers, so I’m happy to be in the next round.”

MOVING ON 🙌@janniksin is undefeated in Grand Slams this year and is back in the Roland-Garros quarter-finals for the first time since 2020.@rolandgarros | #RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/CrUgUvT7JT

— ATP Tour (@atptour) June 2, 2024

The Italian’s comeback win was based on an improvement in his serving as his maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head clash with Moutet wore on. Having won just 53 per cent (9/17) of points behind his first serve in the first set, he had improved that statistic to 73 per cent (45/62) by the end of the match.

With his 32nd tour-level win of the year, Sinner kept up the pressure on Novak Djokovic in the Roland Garros battle for World No. 1. Djokovic must reach at least the championship match in Paris to have a chance of retaining top spot after the clay-court major, while Sinner can guarantee his own rise to the top of tennis’ mountain by also reaching that stage.