Tennis-Sinner eases by Michelsen to reach U.S. Open third round

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Top seed Jannik Sinner beat American Alex Michelsen 6-4 6-0 6-2 on Thursday to reach the third round of the U.S. Open where the Italian's doping case remains a focus even though he was cleared of wrongdoing.

Sinner converted eight of his 16 break-point chances en route to dispatching Michelsen in 99 minutes on Arthur Ashe Stadium for his ATP Tour-leading 30th hard-court win of 2024.

"I feel like I can improve still a couple of things," the 23-year-old Sinner said during his on-court interview. "But you have to be obviously very happy to be in the next round and so I'm just trying to get better as a player."

In the early goings Michelsen proved up for the challenge as he twice came back from a break down in the first set, but when Sinner broke a third time for a 5-4 lead he promptly closed out the tighly-contested frame on serve.

Sinner found another gear in the second set and had a much easier time as he raced out to a 3-0 double-break lead to seize control and never looked back as Michelsen's serve suddenly abandoned him and his unforced errors started to pile up.

Michelsen made an encouraging start to the third set but Sinner remained all business and continued applying pressure, eventually earning the decisive break for a 3-2 lead and going on to serve out the match with a routine hold.

The victory was in stark contrast when compared to their first meeting two weeks ago during the second round of a U.S. Open tune-up event in Cincinnati where Sinner prevailed in two close sets en route to lifting the title.

"Very happy to be through against a very tough opponent," Sinner said on court after his win. "We played each other in Cincinnati ... so I knew a little bit what to expect. I think also he knew a little bit what to expect."

Up next for Sinner, who counts the Australian Open among his ATP Tour-leading five titles this year, will be Australian world number 87 Christopher O'Connell.

Ahead of the year's final Grand Slam, the International Tennis Integrity Agency revealed that Sinner had tested positive twice for an anabolic agent in March but avoided a ban as it was ruled he bore no fault or negligence for the violations.

(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto, editing by Pritha Sarkar)