Sinner stays focused after winning start at Australian Open

MELBOURNE :Fourth seed Jannik Sinner shook off the rust to make a winning start in his bid for a first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open as the Italian defeated unseeded Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp 6-4 7-5 6-3 in the opening round on Sunday.

Sinner, who enjoyed a strong finish to 2023 by reaching the ATP Finals title clash before inspiring Italy to a second Davis Cup triumph, was slightly off the pace after skipping warm-up tournaments in the build-up to the year's first major.

Sinner is targeting another deep run at Melbourne Park after reaching the 2022 quarter-finals but he said his immediate focus was to tidy up his game ahead of his next match against Dutch qualifier Jesper de Jong or Argentine Pedro Cachin.

"It's Sunday today. It's so long to go. But for sure you're aiming for these matches," Sinner said about a potential semi-final encounter with defending champion Novak Djokovic. "But I go day by day. You have one job at a time.

"Today was one player. Wednesday is going to be a different player and you have to try to beat this guy, no? I don't want to say much more about this at the moment, because I feel like there's still a lot of work to do to get to this point.

"Obviously we aim to play big matches in big stadiums, so let's see. It's going to be an interesting tournament."

Sinner grabbed a break in the opening game of the match on Rod Laver Arena and battled to hold in the next before cranking up the pressure with searing winners on both flanks to take the first set.

World number 59 Van de Zandschulp went toe-to-toe with his opponent in the next set before Sinner sealed the decisive break for a 6-5 lead and comfortably doubled his advantage.

Sinner squandered four break points and then surrendered his