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<\/p>\nJannik Sinner\u2019s biggest challenge on Tuesday night came in the first few minutes.<\/p>\n
The two-time defending Australian Open champion found himself in unfamiliar territory, facing triple break point in the opening game against diminutive French lefty Hugo Gaston.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Jannik Sinner advanced to the second round when Hugo Gaston retired after the second set.Credit: Chris Hopkins<\/p>\n
But Sinner needed to hit a groundstroke on just one of the next five points as he escaped trouble, never to be in danger again. In that sequence, there were three aces and an unreturned serve that Gaston could not keep in play, while the underdog fluffed a volley on the other point.<\/p>\n
His new ball toss \u2013 lower, and closer to his body \u2013 paid rich dividends.<\/p>\n
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Sinner won the first-round match easily, leading 6-2, 6-1 after 68 minutes, before a dejected Gaston called it quits due to an injury. The Frenchman took tablets after the opening set, but it was a helpless cause.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not the way you want to win the match, but he\u2019s such a talented player,\u201d Sinner said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has incredible touch and moves very well, so I knew from the beginning that I had to play very high-level tennis, and was trying to be as aggressive as possible, which I\u2019ve done, so I\u2019m very happy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very happy to be back here. It\u2019s a very special place for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
This was the Italian\u2019s turn to make a statement after his chief rivals, world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz and 10-time champion Novak Djokovic, who sparkled the previous two nights while also progressing in straight sets.<\/p>\n
On first impressions, 38-year-old Djokovic probably takes the points, but the fortnight is still young.<\/p>\n
![\"Sinner](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/c65ea7777c47cd68003bd4d4abfed12e834f2fea.jpeg\")
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Sinner has tweaked his service technique.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Sinner declared last year\u2019s US Open final, which he lost to Alcaraz, as a turning point of sorts for him. He told everyone afterwards that he was \u201cvery predictable\u201d in that final, and it was up to him to make changes.<\/p>\n
One of the first was to Sinner\u2019s serve, which was heralded as a key part of his ascension, but went under further reconstruction to try to find greater reliability and rhythm.<\/p>\n
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His first-serve percentage has consistently been high since, and his serve is rated as the tour\u2019s best across several key metrics in the past year, ahead of French giant Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and American Taylor Fritz.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt like the serve was, and still is, a shot where I need to improve. It\u2019s the only shot we have where we can do
everything by ourselves,\u201d Sinner said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a lot of room to improve. We changed a little bit the motion, the rhythm of the serve. Before, it was a bit too fast in the beginning. Now, it\u2019s a bit slower. And the toss usually was a bit more in front, a bit on the right. Now, it\u2019s a bit more back and over the head.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt times, I still lose it. It\u2019s not a shot where I feel very safe with, but at the same time, we are working on that. It is one of, if not the, most important shots we have because it can give you so many great things, so let\u2019s see how I\u2019m going to serve this season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sinner has also discussed in the months since leaving New York how he wanted to introduce more variety into his game, in particular, the drop shot.<\/p>\n
![\"Jannik](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/25d9c214886cad66f0f29ab425e0fec70e3063fc.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Jannik Sinner is trying to add more variety to his game.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n
The process is not quite natural yet, as evidenced in the sixth game of the match when he made a late call to execute one \u2013 but it came off, much to his delight. Sinner immediately flashed a grin towards his support crew, with his Australian coach Darren Cahill the most amused of the lot.<\/p>\n
Then, on set point, he attempted another, which looped high and landed in the middle of the service box, begging to be punished.<\/p>\n
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Gaston arrived easily in time, but Sinner guessed that he was going cross-court on his backhand, and with a flick of his wrists, he steered an on-the-run forehand into the open court to clinch the first set.<\/p>\n
Alcaraz has also tinkered with his serve, which has been likened to Djokovic\u2019s delivery \u2013 a narrative the 24-time grand slam champion has not missed.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs soon as I saw it, I sent him a message,\u201d Djokovic joked on Monday night.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said, \u2018We have to speak about copyrights\u2019. Then, when I saw him here, I told him we have to talk about percentage of his winnings. Every ace, I expect a tribute to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is an inevitability about the collision course Alcaraz and Sinner are on, but the Italian must first set his sights on Australia\u2019s James Duckworth, who rallied to beat Croatian prospect Dino Prizmic 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 in almost four-and-a-half hours on Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jannik Sinner\u2019s biggest challenge on Tuesday night came in the first few minutes. The two-time defending Australian Open…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":425787,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":["post-425786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}