Jannik Sinner triumphs in Halle, Cobolli and Alcaraz advance in ATP tournaments

The return to victory is a done deal. Not that there were any great fears in the first round in Halle, but Jannik Sinner He must have had a few sleepless nights after the defeat in the final at Roland Garros in the final, at the end of those five and a half epic hours battling with Alcaraz. And then, the world number one had lost in doubles on Monday with Lorenzo Sonego in his debut in Germany, essentially extending his runs on the court to two without winning: very unusual, for a champion like him. Jannik beat Yannick...Hanfmann 7-5 6-3. It was not a monotonous match, because the home opponent has a nice touch and on the center court he showed off a considerable mettle. So much so that the Italian only placed the break in the tenth game that allowed him to then take home the first set. And two points to break the service, the opponent had them in the second set. But the Alto Adige's serve yesterday was a guarantee, with 84% of the points on the first serve, entered with 71%. Ten aces were then scored in the fast match, in which Sinner did not disdain to go to the net, scoring 9 points out of 13. Now Jannik, the reigning champion of this ATP 500, will meet his brilliant friend tomorrow in the eighth finals alexander bublik, the Kazakh who in Paris in the quarterfinals had worried him, in a set, joking at the end of the match on social media: "I almost got him", he wrote. Curiously, the only victory of the giant number 45 in the world in the five previous matches was on the grass of Halle, two years ago. Worth noting is the success of Flavio Cobolli against the Brazilian Joao Fonseca: 5-7 7-6 7-6 the score in favor of the 23-year-old Roman number 24 in the world. The 18-year-old South American number 57 showed truly remarkable flashes, but this Flavio is flying. And the Top 20 is there, not far away. With his fourth career victory on grass, Cobolli awaits Shapovalov in the second round. And Sonego? After the defeat in doubles, he too finds the right turns. The Turin number 46 in the world, defeated the German Jan-Lennard Struff, number 6 ATP, 3-6 2-103. In the eighth finals Sonego will challenge the winner of the match between Marcos Giron and Alexander Zverev. Winning debut for Carlos Alcaraz at the ATP 500 tournament at Queen's. The Spaniard, world number 2 and first seed, beats the Australian Adam Walton, number 86 in the ATP ranking, with a score of 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) in one hour and 44 minutes.