Jannik Sinner returns to action at the 2025 Italian Open

The world’s top tennis star, Jannik Sinner, showed no sign of rust on his return to the match court, beating a tenacious Mariano Navone 6-3, 6-4 at the Italian Open on Saturday (10 May).

Sinner, who has not lost a contest since his defeat to Carlos Alcaraz in the final of the 2024 China Open, extended his winning streak to 22 matches.

The three-time major winner has completed his three-month suspension, having reached a settlement with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) over his two positive doping tests in 2024.

The Italian ace was welcomed to court to chants of ‘olé, olé olé olé, Sinner, Sinner’ before treating his home fans to some quality tennis.

Sinner did not have it all his way with Navone matching the world number one throughout the contest. But Navone could not convert the chances to break Sinner on his serve.

The home hero got off to a flying start, holding the opening game and nearly breaking the Argentine player in the second.

Sinner saved a break point in the third game and powered back in the fourth to win on Navone’s serve to go 3-1 up.

The close tussle continued throughout the first game with Sinner defending his advantage for a 1-0 lead.

Navone upped the ante in the second game, matching Sinner shot for shot before the Italian star found the breakthrough in the seventh.

The Argentinian broke back immediately, only for Sinner to return the favour in the next game to reclaim his grip on the duel.

Sinner was again tested in the deciding game but managed to stave off the challenge to keep his hopes of a fifth Masters 1000 title alive.

Despite his stint away from the ATP Tour, Sinner remained World No. 1 after securing the Australian Open title in his sole competition of the season. He has now spent 48 consecutive weeks at the top, the 10th-longest streak in men’s singles history.

Sinner will next face Jesper de Jong of the Netherlands in the third round on Monday (12 May).

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