The match appeared to be so easy for Jannik Sinner. He had taken the first set of his third-round match of the Monte-Carlo Masters against a seemingly overwhelmed Tomas Machac 6-1. The ATP No. 2 was surely on his way to yet another straight-set victory at a Masters event. Not so fast.
The first set was far from perfect for the Italian, however. He had four winners but eight unforced errors. He was landing 67 percent of his first serves with no aces. Sinner wasn't at his best, but Machac was atrocious with three winners and 18 unforced errors. He won just 29 percent of his first serves.
That is what made what happened in the second set so alarming. Sinner, who is rarely broken, was broken in two straight games. Plus, he seemed to be struggling physically, but the reason wasn't clear why. Machac suddenly jumped ahead 5-2, and we were surely moving to a third set. Even that, like everything else in the match, wasn't going to be easy, though.
Jannik Sinner survives his third-round Monte-Carlo Masters match against Tomas Machac
Machac was broken, and Sinner got back to 3-5. On the Czech's next service game at 5-4, he faced another break point. Sinner had adjusted where he stood on Machac's first serve and was further back from the baseline. Even if he didn't win the game, he was seemingly setting himself up for third-set success.
The two-seed then got another break to get back to even at 5-all. He was hitting his forehand with huge bombast, a couple getting to 110 mph. Not only was Jannik Sinner the better player to begin with, but he now had all the momentum and appeared to be feeling better.
Sinner was still far from his normally elite form, though. In set two, he landed only 50 percent of his first serves. This led to the two early breaks in the set, but Machac also led 15-40 on Sinner's serve. The Italian would then reel off four straight points to win the game and be, miraculously, one game away from taking yet another Masters match in straight sets.
Again, like everything in the second set, nothing would be easy. Machac suddenly looked back in form and held at love, forcing a tie-break. In the tie-break, he used his serve to keep Sinner off-balance and then followed up many times with a brilliant forehand.
He controlled the tie-break and took the set from Sinner 7-3. It was the first set that the Italian had lost in a Masters event in 185 days. He had won 37-straight sets at 1000 tournaments before dropping the second set to Tomas Machac.
The third set lost any drama quickly. Sinner got an early break and appeared back to full fitness, while Machac seemed to tire. The Italian kept holding more easily, and at 5-3, he got another break of the Czech, and moved on at the Monte-Carlo Masters after a match that was much tougher than most expected.
Jannik Sinner will next face Felix Auger-Aliassime in the quarterfinals. The Canadian defeated Casper Ruud in round three after Ruud was forced to retire with a calf injury.