Tennis fans are used to seeing him bounce back after losing the opening set. He even did it in Montréal against Adrian Mannarino. But versus No.23 Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain, Jannik Sinner (7) of Italy couldn’t make it happen.
On Thursday night, he was ousted by his 31-year-old rival in two sets (6-2, 6-4).
Sinner wasn’t able to secure a single break point in 84 minutes of tennis. With stats like that, Carreno Busta was guaranteed to punch his ticket for the quarterfinals.
The Spaniard’s six ATP titles, including three on hard courts, are a good indication of his versatility and understanding of his rivals’ weaknesses. Sinner had plenty of them today, and the veteran capitalized on all of them.
“I can’t say I’m playing the best tennis of my life, because I’ve reached the semifinals of the US Open,” said Carreno Busta. “But I’m playing well, and I’m satisfied.”
Since the start of the tournament, he’s only spent 3 hours and 35 minutes on the court—far less than any of the other quarterfinalists.
He’ll be in action on Friday night against another 20-year-old phenom: Jack Draper of Great Britain.
