Cincinnati Masters: Jannik Sinner celebrates 20th birthday with a victory

Cincinnati: Birthday boy Jannik Sinner turned 20 on Monday and celebrated with a win at the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Masters. The young gun was joined in the second round after a delayed rainy start to the week by 34-year-old compatriot Fabio Fognini, giving Italy a powerful start. Sinner erased memories of a disheartening first-round loss a week ago in Toronto when he went down in his opening match to Australian qualifier James Duckworth . The youngster ranked 15th came good in Cincinnati as he defeated Argentine Federico Delbonis 6-2, 7-5. Fognini joined the party 7-6 (7/3), 6-3 over Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia in a first-time meeting. “I gave myself the best present possible,” Sinner said. “I played and won a match on my birthday at a big tournament.” Dominik Koepfer won an all-German first-rounder with his defeat of Jan-Lennard Struff 7-6 (7/2), 5-7, 6-3. In the women’s draw at the joint event, Roland Garros champion Barbora Krejcikova made a singles debut at the Midwest venue as she defeated Russian Daria Kasatkina 6-3, 6-2. Swiss Jil Teichmann beat Romania’s Sorana Cirstea with the loss of just two games. Former French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko advanced past Slovene Tamara Zidansek 7-5, 6-1. Also, Stefanos Tsitsipas won’t bother with a Covid-19 vaccine unless tennis officials lay down the law and make it mandatory.

Stefanos Tsitsipas says he will get vaccinated only if it becomes mandatory 😰😱 pic.twitter.com/5x0ATzhDNI

— Luigi Gatto (@gigicat7_) August 16, 2021

The second seed at the tournament said Monday that were jabs to become a requirement for players, he would go along. “No one has made it a mandatory thing to be vaccinated,” he said. “At some point I will have to. But so far it hasn’t been mandatory to compete, so I haven’t done it.”