Sinner wins first match after French Open final defeat

BERLIN, Germany — World No. 1 Jannik Sinner rebounded from his agonizing French Open final defeat to Carlos Alcaraz with a straight-sets win at the Halle Open on Tuesday (Wednesday Manila time).

The 23-year-old beat Germany's Yannick Hanfmann 7-5, 6-3 on the Halle grass, just over a week after his five-hour-and-29-minute loss to Alcaraz at Roland Garros.

Sinner broke in the final game of the first set and once more in the second to secure victory over the 138th-ranked Hanfmann.

"I'm very happy about my performance," Sinner said on court after the victory.

"The first set could have gone into a tie-break and then anything can happen.

"First matches are never easy on grass — and also second and third matches — so let's see what's coming in the next round."

Sinner, who won last year's tournament, will take on 2023 Halle champion Alexander Bublik in the last 16 on Thursday. He beat Bublik in three sets in the Roland Garros quarterfinals earlier this month.

Coming into the Wimbledon warm-up event, Sinner admitted to having "a few sleepless nights" after his five-set French Open loss to Alcaraz.

World number three Alexander Zverev, a two-time finalist at Halle, starts his campaign against American Marcos Giron on Wednesday.

Third seed Daniil Medvedev, the runner-up in 2022, takes on Quentin Halys.