World number one Jannik Sinner kept up his winning return to tennis as a 6-4 6-2 victory over Jesper de Jong carried him through to the last 16 of the Italian Open.
Home favourite Sinner, who returned from a three-month doping ban with a win over Mariano Navone on Saturday, battled past Dutchman De Jong to set up what should prove a trickier match against Argentine Francisco Cerundolo.
Following his victory over De Jong, the 23-year-old Sinner said the reaction from the Italian crowd was the best he had ever experienced, and those in attendance in Rome were in equally supportive voice on Monday.
Sinner raced to a 4-1 lead in the opening set but showed signs of rustiness as he gave back the three-game advantage against De Jong, who is at a career-high 93rd in the world rankings.
Italy’s reigning US Open and Australian Open champion ultimately recovered to close out the set before dominating the second to claim a 23rd consecutive win.
It is a streak that has been interrupted by the three-month suspension he agreed with the World Anti Doping Agency (Wada).
Sinner was cleared of any wrongdoing by an independent panel after testing positive for the banned substance clostebol in March 2024, before Wada negotiated a short suspension with the Italian’s legal team after agreeing there was no intention to cheat and contamination was the cause.
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