Jannik Sinner sent a letter of intent Saturday at Roland Garros, where he brushed past Jiri Lehecka in just 94 minutes to reach the fourth round.
The top seed produced a lights-out display to prevail 6-0, 6-1, 6-2 and maintain his perfect set record at the clay-court major in Paris. Sinner, who dropped just nine points on serve across the match, according to ATP Stats, also extended his winning streak at Grand Slam tournaments to 17 matches.
“I was playing really really well,” said Sinner. “Especially for two and a half sets, then he was serving very well, very brave. He made some good serve and volleys. But I’m very happy. Simone [Vagnozzi], my coach, had his birthday yesterday, and usually when he has his birthday, I don’t play well. So this win is for him.”
Competing on an overcast day on Court Suzanne-Lenglen, Sinner displayed expertly disciplined shot-making from the baseline, which was coupled with his ability to combat Lehecka’s serve with ease. This was highlighted by a series of rasping return winners he hit throughout the clash, including two from his forehand wing in the penultimate game of the second set.
After improving to 15-1 on the season, Sinner will continue his Roland Garros campaign against Andrey Rublev, whom he leads 6-3 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series.
The 17th-seeded Rublev advanced to the fourth round via walkover after home favourite Arthur Fils withdrew due to injury.
Sinner, who is next week set to complete 52 consecutive weeks at No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings, has now advanced to the fourth round in 14 of his past 15 major appearances.
The Italian owns a 19-5 record at Roland Garros, underscored by his run to last year’s semi-final before falling to rival Carlos Alcaraz in five sets.
In Saturday’s third-round clash with the World No. 34 Lehecka, Sinner struck a total of 30 winners to just nine unforced errors to improve to 64 consecutive wins against players ranked outside the Top 20.
This year in Paris, he is seeded for a quarter-final meeting with fifth seed Jack Draper, who plays ATP junior’s star Joao Fonseca on Saturday afternoon.
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