Jannik Sinner has battled through a worrying bout of illness to keep his hunt for a second successive Australian Open title alive.
The world no.1 was hampered by sickness during his clash against Holger Rune, yet eventually prevailed 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in a drama-filled match.
Sinner eased to the first set against the Danish 13th seed, but then dropped the second and spiralled into trouble during the opening exchanges of the third.
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What happened to Jannik Sinner at Australian Open? Italian star struck down by illness
The Italian appeared uneasy on his feet and was caught off balance on a few different occasions before heading back to his bench and requesting medical assistance, on the advice of his team.
“This is a guy who has almost forgotten what it feels like to lose,” Jim Courier said in commentary on Channel Nine as Sinner’s condition quickly deteriorated.
“He’s in real, serious trouble here. Tremors – this is really worrying.
“He has the ice towel that he is holding but he can barely hold it. His right hand, his playing hand, is all over the place.”
Sinner was helped by the medic who escorted him off the court for more tests. He returned after an extended absence and was rejuvenated as he wrestled back the momentum from Rune to cruise to a win in the third set.
The Italian then received some more good fortune when Rune required medical assistance for a knee issue. An attempted serve from Sinner then broke the net and bizarrely forced the game to be abandoned for 15 minutes.
“He didn’t wake up feeling right,” Courier revealed after the break in play as he had received the lowdown on Sinner’s condition from his coach, Darren Cahill.
“They cancelled the warm-up, so he didn’t get any practice in. He’s just trying to grit his teeth and battle his way through this illness.”
“It was very, very tough,” Sinner said post-match.
“Thank you for the support. It is 90 per cent yours and 10 per cent mine as I just tried to make you happy,” he said while addressing the crowd at Melbourne Park.
“This morning was very strange. I didn’t even warm-up to try and go on court as fit as I could. Game-wise, I played well today which gave me confidence to fight on.
“The time off the court with the doctor really helped me.”
Sinner’s gutsy win sets up a quarter-final meeting against either Alex de Minaur or Alex Michelsen.
