Sinner overwhelms Altmaier 6-0, 6-2 at Vienna Open round 1

There are no surprises at the Vienna Open. Two years after a dramatic comeback loss to Daniel Altmaier at Roland Garros, Jannik Sinner returned and solved the German's problem in less than an hour. On indoor hardcourts, the Italian won 6-0, 6-2, displaying ruthlessly precise tennis: 95% of his points were on his first serve, 12/12 points at net and five breaks from six opportunities.

Development: set 1 destruction, set 2 control

Altmaier beat Sinner in five sets at Roland Garros 2022, but that was his only win against him and it came on clay. In their reunion on indoor hard courts, the scenario was completely reversed.

In set 1, Altmaier chose to play safe, waiting for Sinner to make a mistake. But the Italian player arranged the situations very well and imposed the tempo right from the serve. He broke Altmaier's 3 consecutive service games, had 2 white service games and closed the set with a 6-0 win.

Set 2 was not much different. Altmaier lost 2 more breaks, won only 2 games and accepted defeat 2-6. The difference in the quality of Sinner's first shot after serve and his ability to transition to attack made it impossible for the German to catch up.

Tactical analysis: serve, one-hit shot and net

Sinner’s 95% first serve points (compared to Altmaier’s 54%) show that he has complete control of the opening rallies. Although he only lands a 61% first serve (Altmaier’s 58%), every time the first serve comes up, Sinner turns it into an advantage with a clean “serve + 1” shot: a deep return into the corner, forcing the opponent back behind the baseline and finishing with a winner or a drive to the net.

The tactical highlight was the way Sinner took away Altmaier's waiting rhythm. His opponent played safe, waiting for errors from baseline, but Sinner gave almost no opportunities: only 3 unforced errors in the entire match, and achieved 77% of the points from second serve. Every time Altmaier tried to change the direction of attack, Sinner responded with deep and heavy returns, forcing his opponent into a passive defense.

At the net, Sinner’s 12/12 performance was a testament to his initiative and ideal timing at the net. He did not rush the net haphazardly, but instead advanced after a pressing shot, shortened the space and finished neatly. Altmaier, on the other hand, scored 6/11 at the net, reflecting situations where he was pulled into a defensive position and had to hit the ball in difficult positions.

Altmaier was completely outclassed in returning the ball and converting.

Altmaier failed to create any break points (0/0 break points), while facing constant pressure in his service games. Only 21% of his points came from his second serve, forcing him to take risks on short rallies, leading to an unstable game. Altmaier had 9 winners in total, half of Sinner's 18, and could not make up for it by forcing errors, with Sinner only committing 3 unforced errors.

Important statistics

Impact and Forward

The big win puts Sinner in the second round against compatriot Flavio Cobolli. If the Roland Garros match two years ago showed Altmaier could drag Sinner into a long-running race on clay, this rematch confirmed the difference on indoor hard courts: fast ball tempo, effective serve and early finishing ability put Sinner back on track.

With his near-perfect serving form and conversion (5/6 breaks), Sinner has laid the foundation for a promising journey in Vienna. Altmaier, meanwhile, needs to find a more proactive approach on second serve points and increase the pressure on returns if he wants to turn things around in the next confrontations.