MELBOURNE, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- Defending champion Jannik Sinner has cruised into the round of 16 at the Australian Open with a comfortable third round victory.
Sinner beat the 46th-ranked U.S. player Marcos Giron 6-3 6-4 6-2 in two hours and one minute at Rod Laver Arena on Saturday night.
It was the shortest match at the tournament so far for the world number one, who required over 2 hours and 40 minutes for victory in each of the first two rounds.
"I still have room to improve, I feel like, but every win is great," Sinner said on court after the match.
"If I want to go on in this tournament I have to improve, so hopefully in the next round I'm able to raise my level but I'm still very happy."
Sinner made a statement of intent early by racing to a 3-0 lead in just nine minutes, going on to win the opener in 34 minutes by converting his first set point with his first ace after defending Giron's first break point chance.
Sinner followed the early break in the first set with breaks in the fifth and first games in the second and third sets, respectively, to take command of the match.
Giron broke Sinner's serve for the only time in the match to level the score at 2-2 in the third set but could not maintain that level of play as the world number one responded by winning four straight games to close out the match.
Sinner was dominant on his first serve, winning 82 percent of those points, but also hit 37 unforced errors - almost as many as the combined 41 in his first and second round matches.
He will play either 13th seed Holger Rune or Miomir Kecmanovic in the fourth round. ■
