Jannik Sinner kicks off clay campaign with flawless Monte Carlo win over Sebastian Korda

Jannik Sinner made a seamless transition from hard courts to clay at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, handily defeating Sebastian Korda, 6-1, 6-2 to win his first singles match of the clay-court swing.

"I think me and Sebi have very similar game styles," he said on court after the match. "We are not the classic clay-court specialists; we both prefer to play quite flat. But I think I moved quite well here in these conditions. Every year, it's tough to come here and try to perform well. But I'm very happy with the performance; let's see what's coming in the next round, but it's always great to be back here. As we see, the atmosphere is amazing."

Seeded second to Novak Djokovic in Monte Carlo, Sinner seemed to pick up the gauntlet thrown down by the world No. 1, who himself put on a dominant display against Roman Safiullin on Tuesday. The reigning Australian and Miami Open champion played equally emphatic tennis to knock out the in-form American in one hour and 14 minutes on Court Rainier III.

Sinner is in the midst of a career-best stretch and is widely considered to be the best player on the ATP tour right now, having lost just one match all season and earning a career-high ranking of No. 2 after winning three titles overall.

Flanked by an ATP award-winning coaching team in Simone Vagnozzi and Darren Cahill, Sinner has played near-perfect tennis since last fall, when he blitzed through the post-US Open swing and stunned Djokovic en route to the finals of the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin. He has backed up that upset over the 24-time Grand Slam champion twice since, both at Davis Cup, where he led Italy to victory, and again in Melbourne on the way to winning his first Grand Slam title.

Looking to maintain his momentum on clay, he had a not-insignificant challenge in Korda, one of the best American clay-courters currently on tour, and one who is no stranger to a Monte Carlo upset. Just two years ago, the son of 1998 Australian Open champion Petr Korda stunned Carlos Alcaraz at this very tournament after the Spaniard had romped to victory in Miami.

Sinner and Korda split their two previous meetings, but the Italian made their first match on clay one to remember from the first game, landing a backhand pass to engineer break points and converting off a Korda double fault.

The momentum continued in Sinner’s favor as he eased through the opening set without dropping a point on his first serve and broke Korda three times for a 40-minute demolition.

"Today I missed a couple of first serves because I still tend to go more flat with the rotation," Sinner explained. "I guess we have to work on this, but I returned really well, stayed close this time. Let's see if I can do that in the next round, or if I have to stay back, but it’s all day by day."

Korda continued to struggle keeping up with Sinner in the second set; though he saved four break points to get on the board in his first service game, he was under threat again two games later, Sinner overpowering him for a set and break advantage.

It wasn’t until Sinner was serving for 5-2 in the second set that he lost even a point on his first serve, but the 22-year-old was undaunted by the minor setback as he served his way to within a game of victory.

Earning match points off a flicking forehand passing shot, Sinner only needed one as Korda erred off the forehand wing.

Up next for the No. 2 seed is German Jan-Lennard Struff, who edged past Borna Coric in straight sets on Tuesday. The two last played in March at the BNP Paribas Open, where Sinner won, 6-3, 6-4.