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Jannik Sinner crashes out of French Open, 30-match winning streak ends at hands of Juan Manuel Cerundolo in Paris heat
An ailing Jannik Sinner fell in five sets to Argentinian Juan Manuel Cerundolo; the men's number one seed knocked out despite serving for the match.
World number one Jannik Sinner falls victim to a massive upset on Court Phillipe Chartrier at Roland Garros, knocked out in the second round as he failed to convert a two-set and 5-1 lead against Juan Manuel Cerundolo. The Argentinian completed the comeback to win 3-6, 2-6, 7-5, 6-1, 6-1, as Sinner's bid at completing a career grand slam fell apart as he failed to combat intense heat in the French capital.
Sinner was leading 5-1 when he begin to visibly suffer from heat illness and exhaustion. Despite serving for the match at 5-2, the intense conditions got to the world number one, leaving him unable to move at times. He subsequently lost 18 of the next 20 games, as the 24-year-old Cerundolo held his nerve and played some quality tennis to see out the match against his struggling opponent.
The Italian entered the French Open as odds-on favourite to lift the title after rival Carlos Alcaraz withdrew due to a wrist injury. He will see this as a missed opportunity after winning the first five Masters 1000 events heading into Paris, marking one of the best runs to start a season.
Heat gets to Sinner inches shy of finish line
It looked like business as usual for Sinner in the first two and a half sets, as he continued his momentum to ease to a comfortable advantage to extend a 30-match winning streak. However, with the temperatures touching 35 degrees celsius in Paris, Sinner's notorious struggles with hot conditions seemed to get the best of him at just the wrong time.
Serving at 5-4, 0-40 in the third set, Sinner asked for a medical timeout in a desperate situation. However, he was not able to recover, and proceeded to hunch over in clear discomfort multiple times through the third and fourth set. Further, Sinner was almost unable to serve, rolling in half-effort attempts but clearly several levels off his extreme best.
Cerundolo did impressively well to prevent Sinner from converting break points: he saved three break points each at 1-1 and 3-1 in the fourth set, ensuring that the Italian wasn't able to create any pressure via a foothold in the latter half of the match.
Sinner was broken without much fuss twice early in the deciding fifth set, but was able to generate one last push to earn two break points down 1-4 in the fifth. However, Cerundolo played a brilliant point to prevent the second of those two chances, and shut the door on any hopes for a comeback from the world number one.
Draw wide-open in injury-affected French Open
Sinner is the latest of several high-profile players in the men's draw to fail to make it long into the tournament. Alcaraz, along with Lorenzo Musetti and Arthur Fils, withdrew before the tournament, while Daniil Medvedev was also upset in the first round.
Suddenly, Novak Djokovic will like his chances of scripting an incredible story to lift a 25th grand slam title, while Alexander Zverev has his best chance to end a brutal grand slam drought. Other candidates such as Ben Shelton, Casper Ruud, and Felix Auger-Aliassime are in the picture, and will be extremely relieved to see four-time slam champion Sinner out of the draw.
