BERLIN: World number one Jannik Sinner rebounded from his agonising French Open final defeat to Carlos Alcaraz with a straight-sets win at the Halle Open on Tuesday.

The 23-year-old beat Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann 7-5, 6-3 on the Halle grass, just over a week after his five hour and 29 minute loss to Alcaraz at Roland Garros.

Sinner broke in the final game of the first set and once more in the second to secure victory over the 138th-ranked Hanfmann.

Sinner, who won last year’s tournament, will take on 2023 Halle champion Alexander Bublik in the last 16 on Wednesday.

Coming into the Wimbledon warm-up event, Sinner admitted to having “a few sleepless nights” after his five-set French Open loss to Alcaraz.

Earlier, fourth seed Andrey Rublev and seventh seed Tomas Machac also advanced.

Rublev eased past qualifier Sebastian Ofner 6-3, 6-4 and will next face World No. 14 Tomas Martin Etcheverry, who overcame Pedro Martinez 6-1, 6-3.

Tomas Machac held off lucky loser Jesper de Jong for a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 triumph to set a second-round clash with Fabian Marozsan, while Alex Michelsen recovered from a tricky start to upset fifth seed Francisco Cerundolo 2-6, 7-5, 6-4.

World number three Alexander Zverev, a two-time finalist at Halle, starts his campaign against American Marcos Giron on Wednesday.

Third seed Daniil Medvedev, the runner-up in 2022, takes on Quentin Halys.

Published in Dawn, June 18th, 2025