Jannik Sinner explains why beating Roman Safiullin at the China Open ‘meant so much’ to him’

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Jannik Sinner was thrilled to defeat Roman Safiullin and progress to the China Open quarter-finals.

The Italian once again needed to come from behind to reach the last eight in the Chinese capital and keep his title defence alive.

He was up against Roman Safiullin who he had beaten twice before, but their duel in Beijing was arguably the toughest of their three battles.

Jannik Sinner eventually found his best tennis to secure a 3-6 6-2 6-3 victory and set up a clash with Jiri Lehecka in the last eight.

Why did Jannik Sinner’s win against Roman Safiullin at the China Open mean so much to him?

Sinner found himself in trouble after Safiullin broke his serve twice before taking the opening set. The 23-year-old was struggling to control proceedings from the baseline and the Russian was serving impressively.

But Sinner began to find his range and as Safiullin’s serving statistics dropped. After losing the first set, the World number one just lost five more games for the rest of the match to claim the win.

After the tricky two hour battle, Sinner expressed how much it meant to him come from behind to win and claim victory.

“A tough match. He’s an incredible player and we always have tough battles. This was our third encounter, so we know each other a bit,” Sinner said.

“He returns very well, and he was serving well at important moments. So I tried to keep up mentally, which today was very tough.

“Especially on these kinds of days, when maybe you don’t feel at your 100 percent, to find a way through means so much to me. He’s an incredible player, so I knew I had to raise my level when it counted.”

Jannik Sinner is aiming for his seventh ATP title of 2024 at the China Open

Sinner has had an extraordinary 2024 season which has produced six titles so far.

Two of those tournament wins have been Grand Slam titles, which came at the Australian Open and the US Open.

In June Sinner became the 29th player to reach the World number one position and he has reached the quarter-finals of every tournament he has entered so far this year.

He has yet to play his best tennis in Beijing, but the mark of a great player is finding ways to win when not producing their best level, and Sinner has shown that in the Chinese capital.