Sinner survives wobble at China Open, Alcaraz advances at Japan Open

Jannik Sinner kept his China Open charge alive, grinding past French qualifier Terence Atmane 6-4, 5-7, 6-0 on Saturday in Beijing to advance to the third round.

The match marked the World No. 2's first outing since dropping the US Open final and, with the win, Italy's four-time Grand Slam winner notched his 200th hard‑court victory since the start of 2020, an elite tally only bettered in that span by Russia's Daniil Medvedev (208).

"It was a very difficult challenge today," said Sinner. "He for sure carried a lot of confidence in the third set. I managed to play a great first game to break him, which then gave me the confidence to somehow manage the set. After the double break, it was a bit different. The atmosphere went down."

Meanwhile in Tokyo, World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz gritted through an ankle scare to beat Belgium's Zizou Bergs 6-4, 6-3 in 1 hour and 19 minutes in the round of 16 at the Japan Open.

After falling a break behind early, the Spaniard rattled off four straight games to take the first set. Alcaraz then opened the second with three clean holds, en route to setting up a quarterfinal match against the USA's Brandon Nakashima.