Jannik Sinner cruised to victory over Tomas Machac in the opening round of the Qatar Open on Monday in his first match since his unsuccessful Australian Open title defence.
The world number two eased past the 31st-ranked Czech 6-1, 6-4 to set up a second-round meeting with Alexei Popyrin in Doha, where Carlos Alcaraz is the top seed this week.
It was a convincing return to action for Sinner after his semi-final loss to Novak Djokovic at Melbourne Park last month.
“Physically I feel good,” the 24-year-old said. “Every match is going to get tougher, so hopefully I will be ready for the next one.”
Sinner raced through the first set in under half an hour but Machac improved in the second.
A break in the fifth game still proved enough for the four-time Grand Slam champion, although he needed five match points to close it out.
On a windy day, the Italian lost just six points across his nine service games.
“You have to adapt to every situation and condition on the court,” Sinner said.
Sinner will next take on Popyrin, who beat Qatari wild card Mubarak Shannan Zayid 6-0, 6-2.
Alcaraz, who also has not played since Melbourne, where he won the Australian Open title, takes to the court on Tuesday when he faces Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech. The Spaniard was due to defend his Rotterdam title last week but withdrew on the eve of the event.
In other round-of-32 matches on Monday, both Jakub Mensik and Arthur Fils fought back from a set down to progress.
Mensik, the sixth seed, let a first-set tiebreak slip after leading it 6-3 against British qualifier Jan Choinski. Mensik fell a break behind in the third set but then broke twice to win 6-7 (6-8), 6-2, 6-4.
Fils also lost a first-set breaker after leading, but recovered to beat Pole Kamil Majchrzak 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-4.
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