Sinner v Alcaraz: Jannik Sinner makes injury confession as he edges towards Carlos Alcaraz clash in Cincinnati

Jannik Sinner may be heading into the US Open as the world No 1, but he also has plenty of questions hovering over him.

After losing against Andrey Rublev in the quarter-finals of last week’s Montreal Masters event, fresh concerns over Sinner’s hip injury were raised.

The Italian was struggling with a hip injury during the European clay court season in April and May and then suffered with tonsilitis as he lost in the quarter-finals of Wimbledon against Daniil Medvedev.

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He was then forced to pull out of the Olympics due to illness, so all eyes were on the Italian as he played his first match at the Cincinnati Open against American Alex Michelsen.

While Sinner sealed a 6-4, 7-5 win, this was not a convincing performance for a player who extended his record on hard courts in 2024 to a hugely impressive 25-2.

“It was a tough match. He played already some matches but for me, it was the first match here, so I tried to feel the conditions a bit more,” said Sinner.

“I’m very happy to be in the next round. For me this is a place where I used to struggle a lot in the past years, so let’s see what I can do this time.

“I’m trying to stay in a positive mindset, positive moment, and I think that today also brought me the win.”

When asked if he was physically fit, he offered up a less than convincing reply as he said: “For sure not 100 per cent yet, but I’m trying to get used to these conditions.”

Sinner saved three break points in the opening set and five in the second as he was pushed by Michelsen, with the sparkling form Sinner showed as he won the Miami Open on US hard courts back in March not in evidence in this latest outing.

With French Open and Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz also in the draw in Cincinnati, Sinner will be hoping his body stands up to the demands in the hot conditions in Ohio as he will need to play better than he did against Michelsen as this was not a display that suggested the world No 1 is peaking ahead of the last major of the year.

Meanwhile, Britains’ Jack Draper battled back from the brink of defeat and required a medical time-out before beating Jaume Munar 7-5 3-6 7-6 (5) in the first round in Cincinnati.

The British No 1 struggled alarmingly the latter stages, but dug deep after treatment on his abdomen in the deciding set and will play Greece’s world number 11 Stefanos Tsitsipas in the next round.

Draper recovered from 4-2 down in the opening set to twice break Munar, but the Spaniard, ranked 89, levelled it up by taking the second.

Both players broke serve early in the decider and after Draper saved a break point to lead 6-5, the 22-year-old left-hander called for the trainer.

Munar comfortably held serve to take it to a tie-break, but Draper, who became British number one earlier this summer after winning his first career ATP Tour title in Stuttgart, defied waning energy levels to take it 7-5.

Tsitsipas beat Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff 4-6 6-4 6-3, while Denmark’s Holger Rune and Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime also progressed.