Jannik Sinner continued his immense record in opening round matches by beating Daniel A;tmaier in the first round of the Vienna Open.
Sinner started his Vienna Open campaign strongly with a dominant win against the German who knocked him out of Roland Garros in 2023.
The Italian dropped just two games as he raced to a victory in under an hour, which was his fastest win since he defeated Mikael Ymer in the NextGen Finals in 2019.
Sinner‘s win against Altmaier was his 29th consecutive win in opening round matches, dating back to the Cincinnati Open in 2023.
The last player to topple Sinner in an opening round match is now not even ranked inside the top 100 of the ATP Tour.
Jannik Sinner’s last opening round loss at the Cincinnati Open
Sinner arrived at the Cincinnati Open in 2023 as the number eight seed, but he saw his tournament cut short by a qualifier.
The Italian met Dusan Lajovic in the second-round of the Cincinnati Open, after Sinner has received a bye in the first round.
Sinner lost the match in straight sets to the qualifier, which was a real shock considering the Italian had just won the Toronto Masters.
Lajovic was ranked World No. 66 at the time and has previously earned a career-high ranking of World No. 23 in 2019.
Since defeating Sinner in 2023, Lajovic has dropped outside the top 100 after a run of poor results, with his last tour level appearance coming at Wimbledon.
Lajovic lost to Britain’s Billy Harris in straight sets after beating three players to qualify for the event.
What Dusan Lajovic said after beating Jannik Sinner
Lajovic’s victory against Sinner was an upset despite his career-high of World No. 29 and the star was upbeat after the scalp.
“I obviously knew that it was going to be tough,” said the star after inflicting the loss on the then-World No. 8.
“Whenever you are playing somebody who is in great form and has a lot of confidence, they play well in the important moments,” he added.
Their careers may have gone in different directions since, but Lajovic has carved out a piece of history in Sinner’s career.
