High seed Jannik Sinner battled again towards American Mackenzie McDonald to keep away from a shock first-round exit on the US Open.
The Italian was enjoying his first match because it emerged he had been cleared of any wrongdoing after twice testing constructive for a banned substance earlier this yr.
Sinner, whose coach stated he was “physically and mentally” worn down by the investigation, discovered himself a set and a break down after a poor begin on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
However he discovered his footing halfway via the second set and it was plain crusing from there for the 23-year-old.
Sinner stated the general response to information that he had examined constructive twice for a banned substance was “not unhealthy”.
“The response from followers, I really feel it has been nice – all through when the information got here out, within the observe periods, there was numerous help, which I am very glad and comfortable about that,” Sinner stated in a information convention.
Requested concerning the response from different gamers he stated: “I can’t management the gamers’ response, and if I’ve one thing to say to somebody, I’m going there privately, as a result of I am this type of individual.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Stefanos Tsitsipas suffered an early US Open exit for the seventh yr in a row because the eleventh seed misplaced to Thanasi Kokkinakis within the first spherical.
Final yr’s runner-up and 2021 champion Daniil Medvedev dismissed a middling second set to beat Dusan Lajovic 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-1.
