WORLD number one Jannik Sinner demolished big-serving Alexander Bublik to storm into the US Open quarter-finals on Monday.
Defending champion Sinner needed just eighty one minutes to administer a brutal 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 drubbing to reach the last eight.
Bublik described Sinner as like an AI-generated player shortly before walking onto the Arthur Ashe Stadium court.
He embraced the Italian after the drubbing and could be heard exclaiming you are so good, this is insane.
Sinner felt he was playing some great tennis and managed to break him very early which gave him confidence.
The top seed steered clear of questioning Bublik’s effort during a match in which he made two underarm serves and racked up thirteen double faults.
Sometimes we have days off where certain things does not work he said adding that some players have problems behind the scenes.
Kazakh twenty third seed Bublik had advanced to Monday’s last sixteen clash without dropping a single service game in his three previous rounds.
His previously impregnable serve was systematically ransacked by the imperious Sinner who is chasing his third Grand Slam title of the season.
Sinner went on the offensive in the opening game of the first set breaking Bublik immediately to set the tone.
The Italian went on to break Bublik seven more times over the rest of the match as he sauntered into a last eight meeting with tenth seeded compatriot Lorenzo Musetti.
The one-sided nature of the defeat prompted sympathy from the crowd in the third set who cheered loudly when Bublik merely won a point.
Even Bublik himself found humour in being so comprehensively outgunned raising clenched fists in delight after successfully holding serve.
Sinner is aiming to become the first man to successfully defend the US Open crown since Roger Federer won the last of five consecutive titles in 2008.
The top-ranked Italian has won the Australian Open and Wimbledon titles this season but lost to Carlos Alcaraz in a gruelling five-set battle in the French Open final. – AFP
