Wawrinka muscles past talented 18-year-old qualifier Jannik Sinner

On Monday, 2016 US Open champion Stan Wawrinka muscled his way through the talented 18-year-old qualifier Jannik Sinner, 6-3, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-4, in New York.

This time last year, Sinner was hovering around Top 1,000 of the ATP Rankings. After a dominant year on the ITF and Challenger circuit, his ranking now sits at a career-high No. 125 in the world, becoming one of the game’s fastest rising young stars.

Wawrinka looked vulnerable at the start as he struggled with foot-fault frustrations and uncharacteristic errors. But Sinner was unable to capitalize on any of his four break-point chances in the first set, and Wawrinka closed it out, 6-3..

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In the second set, Sinner showed us why he climbed nearly 900 rankings spots in the past year. The Italian went shot for shot with Wawrinka. But instead of playing within himself in the tiebreak, Sinner forced the issue and gifted the Swiss several costly unforced errors from the baseline.

With two sets in hand, Wawrinka blinked for just a moment and Sinner pounced on the opportunity, racing to a 4-1 lead and eventually closing out the third set, 6-4.

Wawrinka broke at 4-3 in the fourth set and held to win the match. The three-time Grand Slam champion will play again next round, but both players walked away with a victory. Sinner showed the world that he is here to stay.

This was the 18-year-old Italian's first Grand Slam main-draw match, but you wouldn’t know it by watching the match. At no point did his positive and focused demeanor waver. He gave the Swiss all he could handle, at times even matching his power from the ground.

Up next for Wawrinka is Jeremy Chardy, who took out Winston-Salem champion Hubert Hurkacz, 3-6, 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-1, 6-4.

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