The Mt Kenya Times 
World number one brushes aside French wildcard in straight sets to extend remarkable winning streak to 30 matches
By Norman Mwale
World number one Jannik Sinner swept past French wildcard Clément Tabur 6-1, 6-3, 6-4 on Court Philippe Chatrier on Tuesday to advance to the second round of the French Open in Paris.
The 23-year-old Italian was imperious from the first ball, striking 40 winners across the match without facing a single break point — a performance that underlined why he arrives at Roland Garros as the overwhelming favourite to lift the Coupe des Mousquetaires for the first time. The victory extended his winning streak to 30 consecutive matches, placing him in the company of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic among the Open Era’s most dominant run-builders.
“I’m very happy to be back here,” Sinner said courtside after the match. “It’s a very, very special place.” His words were measured, as they tend to be, but the tennis spoke at a different volume altogether.
The win is Sinner’s 18th consecutive victory on clay this season, a run that has swept through all three clay-court Masters 1000 events — Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome — in the lead-up to Roland Garros. No man alive is playing better tennis on the surface right now, and the draw has done nothing to diminish his prospects. Two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz withdrew before the tournament began with injury, leaving Sinner as the unchallenged top seed and the man every other player in the draw must eventually find a way past.
That, by most accounts, is an unenviable task. Russian third seed Daniil Medvedev, who has faced Sinner more times than almost anyone on tour, offered a frank assessment of what it takes. “The only way to beat him, you need to be at your best for all four, five sets,” Medvedev said. “You need to run, be strong, to serve well, to return well. Everything needs to be on the top level.” Coming from a player of Medvedev’s calibre, the remark reads less like praise and more like a warning to the rest of the field.
Sinner’s next test comes in the form of Argentine left-hander Juan Manuel Cerundolo, who defeated Scotland’s Jacob Fearnley in straight sets in the first round. Cerundolo is a capable clay-court operator, but the gulf in class between the two men, judged on current form, is considerable. Sinner has not dropped a set in his past five matches and has shown little appetite for letting opponents back into contests.
There is, of course, history pressing gently on his shoulders. Despite his dominance on clay this season and across the tour more broadly, Sinner has never won a Grand Slam on the surface. His two major titles — the 2024 Australian Open and the 2024 US Open — arrived on hard courts. Roland Garros remains the one frontier. He is 24 years old, ranked first in the world, and arriving here in the form of his life. The stars, as much as they ever align in sport, appear to be aligned.
Whether Sinner can convert that promise into the championship the tennis world is increasingly expecting of him will unfold over the fortnight ahead. For now, he has done what was required — efficiently, ruthlessly, and without drama.
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