Sinner prevails in Beijing Amidst Appeal

BEIJING: Top-ranked Jannik Sinner rallied to beat Roman Safiullin 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the second round of the China Open on Saturday and learned afterward that his steroid case is far from over.

While Sinner was on court in Beijing, the World Anti-Doping Agency announced it was seeking a ban of one to two years for the US Open champion who tested positive twice for an anabolic steroid in March but was not suspended in a decision by an independent tribunal announced by the International Tennis Integrity Agency on Aug. 20 because the ITIA determined he was not to blame.

Sinner’s fate will now be determined by the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sport after WADA said it filed an appeal on Thursday.

On court Saturday, the two-time Grand Slam champion again found himself behind in the Chinese capital after Safiullin broke serve twice to claim the opening set.

Sinner’s power and laser-like accuracy from the baseline gradually chipped away at his Russian opponent and helped the Italian to win seven straight games from 2-2 in the second set to take the ascendancy and close out a gritty win.

Sinner, who has reached at least the quarter-final at every tour-level event he has played in 2024, will next play Jiri Lehecka, who earlier defeated Roberto Bautista Agut 3-6, 6-2, 6-1.

Also Saturday, Italy’s Flavio Cabolli advanced after a 6-4, 6-2 win over Pavel Kotov.

Third-seeded Daniil Medvedev played his second-round match against French veteran Adrian Mannarino later Saturday.

In the women’s draw, US Open champion Aryna Sabalenka advanced to the third round with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Thai qualifier Mananchaya Sawangkaew.

“In the first set, I was struggling a little bit with the rhythm,” said Sabalenka, who’s best run in Beijing has only been to the quarter-final. “In the second set, seems like everything started working much better. I think that’s why it was more smooth and better quality.”

The second-ranked Sabalenka is the top seed in Beijing in the absence of Iga Swiatek.

Next up for the three-time major winner is American Ashlyn Krueger, who beat New Zealand’s Lulu Sun 6-1, 7-6 (4).

Ninth-seeded Daria Kasatkina of Russia beat Croatian Jana Fett 6-1, 6-2. She will play Amanda Anisimova, who beat Camila Osorio of Colombia 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova was upset 1-6, 6-4, 7-5 by Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian.

Top seeds go down in first round of Japan

Top-seeded Taylor Fritz, third-seeded Casper Ruud and fourth-seeded Stefaos Tsitsipas were all beaten in the first round, before second-seeded Hubert Hurkacz was also eliminated as he lost to US Open semi-finalist Jack Draper 6-4, 6-4 in the second round.

Tomas Machac upset fifth-seeded Tommy Paul 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4) to advance to the quarter-finals and continued a disappointing week for the top-seeded players in Tokyo.

Sixth-seeded Holger Rune is the highest-ranked seed remaining in the draw. Rune, from Denmark, beat home favourite Yoshihito Nishioka 6-2, 6-4.