Perfect symmetry for Sinner as he moves into fourth round with comfortable win over Kotov

Jannik Sinner moved serenely into the fourth round of Roland-Garros, comfortably dispatching Pavel Kotov 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to reach the second week in Paris for the fourth time in his career.

The Italian was barely troubled on serve, facing just one break point throughout the entire contest, which he saved. Conversely, Kotov was broken three times, once in each set, as Sinner completed a remarkably symmetrical straight-sets win.

The world No 2 broke in the sixth game of both the first and the third sets, with a break in the third game of the middle stanza, to cap a clinical day at the office on Philippe-Chatrier.

Sinner has begun his 2024 Roland-Garros campaign with nine straight sets and has now won ten Grand Slam matches in a row. His win-loss record is 31-2 for the year, and 51-4 since last year’s US Open.

It is starting to look ominous for the rest of the field as the ATP player of the season has carried every bit of his fine form into the clay-court Grand Slam.

Sinner will play the winner of the match between Corentin Moutet and Sebastian Ofner in the fourth round, as his bid for a second consecutive Grand Slam title gathers pace and momentum.

Earlier in the tournament, the 22-year-old Italian beat American Christopher Eubanks (6-3, 6-3, 6-4) and French wildcard Richard Gasquet (6-4, 6-2, 6-4).

Kotov, ranked No 56, won against No 32 seed Cameron Norrie (4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2) and edged out Swiss Stan Wawrinka (7-6 (5), 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (5)) in the previous rounds of the Roland-Garros 2024.

Paris (Grand Slam), other third-round results (Roland-Garros, clay, EUR 53.478.000, most recent results first):

• Novak Djokovic vs. Lorenzo Musetti
• Tomas Martin Etcheverry vs. Casper Ruud
• Taylor Fritz vs. Thanasi Kokkinakis
• Alexander Zverev vs. Tallon Griekspoor
• Francisco Cerundolo vs. Tommy Paul
• Jozef Kovalik vs. Holger Rune
• Tomas Machac vs. Daniil Medvedev
• Alex De Minaur vs. Jan-Lennard Struff
• Sebastian Korda vs. Carlos Alcaraz
• Ben Shelton vs. Felix Auger-Aliassime
• Corentin Moutet vs. Sebastian Ofner
• Hubert Hurkacz vs. Denis Shapovalov
• Zhizhen Zhang vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas
• Zizou Bergs vs. Grigor Dimitrov
• Matteo Arnaldi beat Andrey Rublev (6): 7-6 (6), 6-2, 6-4