SINNER WINS IN RETURN FROM DOPING BAN AT ATP ITALIAN OPEN

ROME, May 10 (Bernama-Xinhua) -- Top seed and current world No. 1 Jannik Sinner secured a straight-sets victory in his comeback match, defeating Argentina's Mariano Navone 6-3, 6-4 in the second round of the ATP Italian Open on Saturday.

The Italian had served a three-month ban for his two doping offences after accepting the punishment following a case resolution agreement with the World Anti-Doping Agency in February this year. He tested positive for clostebol in March 2024, reported Xinhua.

Sinner's doping ban officially ended on May 5. As the top seed in Rome, he received a first-round bye and made his debut on clay this season.

In the opening set, Sinner built a 4-2 lead in the first six games. Both players then held serve comfortably by winning four straight points in the next two games, before Sinner consolidated his advantage with a hold in the ninth game to take the set 6-3.

The second set was tighter with both players holding serve through the first six games for 3-3. In a tense seventh game, Sinner finally converted his fourth break point. However, Navone immediately broke back in the following game. Sinner responded strongly, breaking once more and then holding serve to close out the set 6-4.

"I feel like we prepared ourselves in the best possible way. Of course, I was missing the feedback of official matches, which are the best feedback a player can get. So now I have a bigger picture of what I'm doing well and what I have to improve," Sinner said in his post-match press conference, adding that his main target for this tournament is to win one or two more matches to gauge his current level.

In the third round, Sinner will face Dutch lucky loser Jesper de Jong.

--BERNAMA-XINHUA