Jannik Sinner sealed a 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 win over
Karen Khachanov to reach the Quarter-Finals of the
Madrid Open where he will face
Felix Auger-Aliassime. But despite that he is far from 100% with his hip continuing to be an issue. He was left pleased with his display but left his fate open ended.
The issue subsided in his win over Pavel Kotov as he limped through against the Russian. A blip at the wrong time for Sinner who is in the form of his life right now and is really on top of his game. A homecoming in Rome awaits next week and potentially becoming World No.1, this would've made a withdrawal understandable. But he soldiers on.
"The level was good today, we both served well. It's not only about being 100% physically, you also have to look at the positive things and recognise the important moments of the match. He did better in the first and I did better in the second and third set. He is a very consistent player for many years. I'm happy for the win, it was a good day and we'll see what happens," said Sinner as per Punto de Break.
He also does so after a late night which saw his team hard at work aiming to solve the issue and get out on court. He did one training session and felt good so decided to play.
"My physio and I did a lot of work yesterday, it was a long night, but that's what my body says. I tried to recover, sleep well and today we also did a couple of different exercises to try to get better. I'm very happy with the process and I hope to be better tomorrow."
"I don't want to say what time I went to sleep, but you need more treatment and more sleep. There are players who find it hard to sleep because they still have adrenaline, that's not my case, but you do a lot of work after the game. It was a long night and in the morning there is also work to do. The important thing is not to wake up worse. Tomorrow I will decide if I can play, I don't know yet".