An analysis of Sinner v Michelsen, US Open, 2nd round.

As you know, in most sports, getting off to a good start plays a major role in your success! This statement was corroborated by both players’ performances in the Jannik Sinner vs Alex Michelsen second round match at the US Open.

Michelsen served first in the match and was broken by Sinner immediately. He did not let his emotions get the best of him right away however and came to break Sinner right back. They are tied 1-1 at this point with Michelsen looking confident in his ability to beat, or at least compete against, the world number 1. With the home crowd (albeit slightly subdued being a morning game) backing him, it looked like Michelsen might have a shot at the upset.

Despite Michelsen looking a little bit shaky on serve, double faulting once in each of his first 2 service games, he did not seem inferior to Sinner. If you recall, the Italian lost his first set against Mackenzie McDonald (ranked 140^th worldwide) in the first round and the narrative around Sinner’s tennis being timid at the beginning of games started to build. Michelsen and Sinner broke each other one more time later on in the set to be tied 4-4. In the 9^th game, with Michelsen serving and up 30-0, the Italian was able to tie it up 30-30 with a strong forehand winner followed by an unforced error by the American. After some back and forth, and three deuces in the game, Sinner was able to break Michelsen for the third time who was not helped by yet another double fault. The world number 1 was then able to finish him off to take the first set 6-4.

Michelsen’s level of play then took a plunge in the second set. With a bunch of double faults and unforced errors, Sinner easily broke him three straight times. Michelsen not able to return the favor even once, lost the set 6-0.

In the third set, Sinner seemed content to just exchange service game wins early but his confidence and skill outshined his complacency and he was able to break Michelsen twice more, taking a commanding 5-2 lead. In the last game, with a spot in the 3^rd round imminent, Sinner looked a little more anxious to end it quickly and double faulted. Despite that, he finished off the American and got the 6-2 set win.

If you ignored ATP rankings going into this game, the first set displayed two evenly matched tennis players. However, the player who took set 1 then just needed to “damage control” to easily win the match in under 1 hour and 40 minutes. If Michelsen won the first set, would Jannik have been able to come back?