Jannik Sinner is sounding his Adelaide International intentions loud and clear, silencing a hopeful home crowd with his defeat of Thanasi Kokkinakis to reach the quarterfinals on Thursday night.
The sixth-seeded Italian struggled to impose himself early on but ultimately came up clutch in the big moments for a 7-6(2) 6-4 victory over the world No.93.
His two-hour, four-minute triumph secured a showdown with American Sebastian Korda, a 6-4, 6-4 winner over Roberto Bautista Agut.
Earlier top seed Novak Djokovic was tested in his battle with Quentin Halys before prevailing, setting a quarterfinal clash with seventh seed Denis Shapovalov.
The last seed standing in the bottom half of the men’s draw, Sinner boasted an Adelaide connection in his team with coach Darren Cahill perched courtside.
But the Italian knew well he would be up against an expectant local crowd willing on their charge, a man who famously captured his maiden tour title on this court almost 12 months earlier.
“It’s tough to play against him. The last meeting was in Cincinnati and it was a thriller so thanks everyone for coming out and being so fair to me also,” Sinner said.
“For sure it was a tough match, especially in the beginning with the sun and shadow, there was not a lot of rhythm, but then after I think I raised my level especially in the tiebreak and I’m very happy about my performance.”
The only time the pair crossed paths previously Sinner eked out a third-set tiebreak to prevail on his 21st birthday in that Cincinnati thriller last year.
Early signs pointed to another protracted affair as Kokkinakis pressed but missed on four break point chances only to surrender serve a game later.
Just when Sinner looked to have undone all his handy work after he was broken while serving for the set, he reasserted himself in the tiebreak .
A lone break in the third game of the second set was enough as he carried the advantage to victory on his fifth ace.
Djokovic ‘glad to overcome challenge’
Quentin Halys is not oblivious to Novak Djokovic’s knack for turning the tables in the depths of battle.
It does not make it any easier to stomach though when seeing it unfold in real time during a 7-6(3), 7-6(5) Adelaide International second-round defeat.
Djokovic eked out the result before a packed centre court crowd and had high praise for the man who took it to him for one hour and 57 minutes.
“It was a great performance from my opponent today. I want to congratulate him for great quality and a great fight,” Djokovic said. “Tough luck but he played like a top 10 player today no doubt.
“As far as my game goes I feel good on the court. I didn’t have such a great start, I lost my serve early. He was serving really well, fast, big serves, hitting his spots in the box very well.
“Just difficult to play in this kind of court that is really fast. It kind of favours the server. If you’re serving well, it’s tough to break the serve of a big server like him, so two tiebreaks were probably the most realistic score of today’s match. Just glad to overcome the tough challenge.”
A promising junior in his day, Halys had never beaten a top-30 opponent in 11 attempts, let alone a top-10 competitor with 21 majors to his name, but he came out of the gates in a hurry as he broke the top seed in the opening game and maintained his level to 5-2.
The threat was always present that the beast would awaken.
Halys played just one tentative game in the opening set, when serving for it at 5-3.
It was the only hint of an opening Djokovic needed as he broke to love and roared in acknowledgement towards his camp.
The world No.64 managed to regroup in time to force the tiebreak but it was to no avail as the Serbian raced to a 5-0 lead and snared the set in just shy of an hour.
Djokovic was not out of the woods just yet. Match points on Halys’ serve passed him by and he had to dig himself out of a scrap on serve to edge ahead 6-5 before ripping a backhand on the stretch to bring up match point in the tiebreak.
He was home at the third time of asking and booked a quarterfinal showdown with seventh seed Denis Shapovalov.
“It took me some time to really adjust to his game,” Djokovic said of Halys. “I didn’t read his serve very well.
“He was going through some of his service games quite comfortably. You know, 5-all he had a big serve on the T, I managed to block it and put the ball in play.
“That’s all I wanted, a chance to eventually get the extra shot. I made him play that tough half volley. The rest was history.”
Shapovalov eases into quarterfinals
Shapovalov is riding the wave of Canada’s breakout run as Davis Cup champions, carrying his final-winning feats into the new season with a quarterfinal showing at the Adelaide International on Thursday.
The seventh seed comfortably advanced over Roman Safiullin 6-4, 6-3 at The Drive, the second straight qualifier he has subdued following his first-round win over Australian Rinky Hijikata.
Should top seed Novak Djokovic defeat Quentin Halys it sets a quarterfinal showdown between the pair.
“Last year we started with winning the ATP Cup, finished it off winning Davis Cup, so definitely the team events were good success for me last year for sure,” Shapovalov said. “Definitely trying to implement that on the individual side. Obviously so far it’s been a great start. Hopefully I can capitalise on a good start to the week and definitely excited for what’s to come.”
While he needed three sets to find a way past Hijikata, he elevated his game to take down the 88th-ranked Safiullin in 82 minutes on the back of 23 winners.
The pair had never squared off in singles but Shapovalov remembered well combining with Felix Auger-Aliassime to narrowly edge his opponent and Daniil Medvedev in the ATP Cup semifinals a year ago.
“Obviously because of last year I know how tough Roman is. We had a really tough battle last year,” Shapovalov said. “I came into this match ready to go, ready to fire on all cylinders, had a really good start this time and was just able to carry through that.”