French Open: Sinner survives Moutet's onslaught to enter QF

Paris, June 3: Jannik Sinner survived an early onslaught from home favourite Corentin Moutet to seal the French Open quarterfinals berth late Sunday night.

Despite dropping his first set of the fortnight, No.2 seed Sinner rallied to end the run of unseeded Corentin Moutet 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 to reach the quarterfinals at Roland-Garros for the first time since his 2020 tournament debut.

Blitzed by the bamboozling Frenchman over the first nine games, Sinner nevertheless found his footing on the clay court to secure victory in two hours and 41 minutes.

Moutet, who let slip two chances to complete a rare bagel against Sinner from 5-0, 40/15, led an opening set and a break at 6-2, 1-0, at which point Sinner’s comeback began.

The Australian Open champion ultimately proved too consistent from the baseline for Moutet in the third and fourth sets. Sinner did not seem fazed by the electric atmosphere whipped up by the home fans and wrapped up a victory to set a quarterfinal clash with Grigor Dimitrov.

The Italian's final stat line consisted of 40 winners and 31 unforced errors – but in sets two to four, he cleaned things up considerably. In the sets he won, he totalled 31 winners and just 17 unforced errors.

With a win Sinner is now 11-0 in Grand Slam matches this year, as well as 22-0 against players ranked outside the top 20.

(IANS)