Sinner begins title defence with victory against Nicolas Jarry

In his first match of the 2025 season, Jannik Sinner was given all he could handle as he opened his title defence Monday at the Australian Open. Dealing with a difficult draw against World No. 36 Nicolas Jarry, Sinner was pushed to the brink in the opening two sets before pulling away late for a 7-6(2), 7-6(5), 6-1 victory in Rod Laver Arena.

“I think today was a very close one because the first sets, they can go both ways,” said the No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings. “In the third set, when I when I broke him the first time, that gave me a little bit of room to to breathe. He is an incredible player, huge potential, so I’m happy how I handled the very tough situation in the first couple of sets and happy to be in the next round.”

Back at the site of his maiden major triumph, Sinner extended his winning streak to 16 matches dating back to October, with the past 14 wins all coming in straight sets. He also stretched his winning run at hard-court majors to 15 matches after sweeping the titles at the Australian Open and US Open last year.

“The crowd and the fans, they give me so much support and it’s very nice to be back here,” he added. “Obviously, I also like the hard courts here. But let’s see, every year is different, every day is different… We’ll try to improve obviously, I have a couple of things that I can surely do better, but first official match of the year for me, so I’m very happy.”

While he is defending 2,000 PIF ATP Rankings points this fortnight as the reigning Australian Open champion, Sinner’s position as No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings is not under threat in Melbourne. He leads No. 2 Alexander Zverev by 2,995 points in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, with both players through to the second round.

Earlier, Tsitsipas who has before now withdrew from the doubles to prioritise the singles events, fall to a first -round defeat to Next Gen Alex Michelsen after the youngstar produced the first big upset of the 2025 Australian Open, defeating 2023 finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-5, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 Monday to charge into the second round.