Sinner overcomes Safiullin test to reach China Open quarters

Jannik Sinner came from a set down once again to reach the quarter-finals of the China Open, beating Roman Safiullin in three sets on Saturday.

After coming from behind in the last round against Nicolas Jarry, the Italian showed his powers of recovery once more, emerging a 3-6 6-2 6-3 victor in just over two hours.

The world number one immediately found himself on the back foot, with Safiullin breaking his opening service game before grasping the early advantage with both hands.

But as he did against Jarry, Sinner responded emphatically in the second, serving three of his four aces during the contest, including two love games, to send the encounter to a decider.

From then on, the Italian never looked back. An early break set the tone, and despite missing one match point, the world number one booked his place in the last eight at the second time of asking against his plucky opponent.

Sinner's next assignment will be Jiri Lehecka, who overcame qualifier Roberto Bautista Agut in three sets.

Comeback complete @janniksin advances into the quarter-finals at #ChinaOpen @ChinaOpen pic.twitter.com/9tQ7bGQv5c

— ATP Tour (@atptour) September 28, 2024

Data Debrief: Comeback King

Sinner is now 9-2 on the ATP Tour in 2024 after losing the first set, with one loss coming in Monte Carlo to Stefanos Tsitsipas, who went on to win the tournament, and the other against Andrey Rublev in Montreal.

But the Italian was far from his free-flowing best. He served up three double faults compared to Safiullin's two but did convert four of the break points he was presented with.