Italy’s Jannik Sinner serves against France’s Arthur Rinderknech during their first round match of the French Tennis Open, at the Roland-Garros stadium, in Paris, Monday, May 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Italy’s Jannik Sinner serves the ball to France’s Arthur Rinderknech during their first round match of the French Tennis Open, at the Roland-Garros stadium, in Paris, Monday, May 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
France’s Arthur Rinderknech sits as he plays Italy’s Jannik Sinner during their first round match of the French Tennis Open, at the Roland-Garros stadium, in Paris, Monday, May 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Jannik Sinner beats Arthur Rinderknech at the French Open for a 15th straight Grand Slam win
PARIS (AP) 鈥 Jannik Sinner stretched his Grand Slam winning streak to 15 matches by grabbing the last five games to complete a 6-4, 6-3, 7-5 victory over Arthur Rinderknech of France in the French Open’s first round on Monday night.
Italy’s Jannik Sinner serves against France’s Arthur Rinderknech during their first round match of the French Tennis Open, at the Roland-Garros stadium, in Paris, Monday, May 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
PARIS (AP) 鈥 Jannik Sinner stretched his Grand Slam winning streak to 15 matches by grabbing the last five games to complete a 6-4, 6-3, 7-5 victory over Arthur Rinderknech of France in the French Open’s first round on Monday night.
The is playing in his second tournament since serving that was announced shortly after he won the Australian Open in January. His case came to light shortly before last year’s U.S. Open, which Sinner also won.
The in all, each trophy arriving on hard courts, and his best showing at Roland-Garros was making it to the semifinals a year ago before losing in five sets to eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz.
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The result against the 75th-ranked Rinderknech in Court Philippe-Chatrier was Sinner’s 62nd win in a row against opponents outside the top 20.
Sinner was pretty close to perfect over the initial two sets Monday, combining for 19 winners and just eight unforced errors in that span. His level dipped a bit in the third, with nine unforced errors off his racket contributing to deficits of 4-0 and 5-2.
But Sinner righted himself from there and was on his way to a matchup against another Frenchman, 38-year-old Richard Gasquet, who has said this tournament will be the last of his career.
鈥淚 know you will support him,鈥 Sinner told the fans with a smile, 鈥渂ut that鈥檚 OK.鈥
Rinderknech, whose best Slam appearance was reaching the third round at the 2023 U.S. Open, did his best to involve the partisan crowd, playing to the spectators and wildly celebrating his best points by sprinting around or waving his arms or shaking his head or reaching into the front row of the stands for a high-five or a handshake.
He has been to known to rile up his supporters and get under an opponent’s skin. During a loss against American Taylor Fritz at Roland-Garros two years ago, when Rinderknech was the last French man in the field, the crowd booed and whistled heartily at the end. Fritz put a finger to his lips, then spread his arms to egg on the crowd and yelled, 鈥 鈥
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In the lead-up to a rematch between the two at Wimbledon last year, Rinderknech made a reference to the meeting in Paris, which upset Fritz. So when the All England Club contest ended with the same winner, they got into a bit of a back-and-forth up at the net, an exchange that included Fritz telling Rinderknech to 鈥渉ave a nice flight home.鈥
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Howard Fendrich has been the AP鈥檚 tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: . More AP tennis:
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