Jannik Sinner makes winning comeback to the tour with straight-set victory in Rome

Jannik Sinner made a winning return to professional tennis in Rome on Saturday night, defeating Argentina's Mariano Navone in straight sets in his opening match in the Italian capital, 6-3, 6-4.

Sinner hadn't played since winning the Australian Open in January—he was serving a three-month period of ineligibility since February.

But that ended before Rome, and in his first match in 104 days—since defeating Alexander Zverev to capture his third Grand Slam title in Melbourne—he showed little signs of rust against Navone.

"It's an amazing feeling, no? I've waited quite a long time for this moment, and I'm very happy to be back," Sinner said afterwards.

"I was saying how it's very difficult to have the right feedback when you don't have any matches, but that's exactly what I need now. The best practice is the match itself. So I'm very happy about that."

Cheered on by a packed home crowd from the moment he walked out on court, Sinner looked sharp from start to finish on Saturday.

There were still a few tricky moments in the match—not only did he face an early break point at 1-all in the first set, but he faced another one at 1-2 in the second set. Then, after Sinner broke for 4-3 in the second set, Navone broke right back to even it up at 4-all.

But the Italian broke the Argentine right back himself in the next game for a 5-4 lead then served out the one-hour, 38-minute victory.

"I'm very happy about the win today. It's been very difficult," Sinner said. "He's such a great player, especially on this surface.

"I tried to move the ball around. At times it went very well, at times it could be better, but in any case it's been a remarkable day for me."

Though Sinner finished with more unforced errors than Navone, 24 to 19, he more than made up for it with twice as many winners, 21 to 10.

After a three-month pause, Sinner now extends his winning streak to 22 matches in a row, a run that started after his loss to Carlos Alcaraz in the Beijing final last October. He's won every tournament he's played since then, at Shanghai and the ATP Finals last year and the Australian Open this year. The streak also includes three wins from the Davis Cup Finals in November, and now one win in Rome.

It's the longest winning streak of his career.

Awaiting the world No. 1 in the third round will be Dutch lucky loser Jesper de Jong, who upset No. 25 seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in his second-round match earlier in the day, 6-0, 6-2.

Sinner beat De Jong in their only previous meeting, a 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 victory in the second round of last year's Australian Open.