Australian wildcard Tristan Schoolkate took the first set off world No.1 Jannik Sinner but couldn’t pull off an upset against the defending AO champion.
Melbourne, VIC, Australia, 16 January 2025 | AAP / Tennis Australia
World No.1 Jannik Sinner has survived an almighty scare to keep his Australian Open title defence alive with a hard-fought win over West Australian Tristan Schoolkate.
Sinner had his run of 29 consecutive sets won snapped by the 173rd-ranked wildcard, but recovered to advance with a 4-6 6-4 6-1 6-3 victory at Rod Laver Arena on Thursday night.
It set up a third-round meeting with American world No.46 Marcos Giron, who outlasted Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry 7-5 3-6 7-5 3-6 6-4.
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Schoolkate’s loss leaves Alex de Minaur and Aleksandar Vukic as the last remaining Australians in either singles event at AO 2025, with Destanee Aiava and James McCabe also exiting in the second round.
Early in Thursday night’s encounter, Schoolkate took it up to his highly-rated opponent.
The Australian broke to love in the decisive game of the first set and held his own serve until Sinner converted his first break point of the match in the seventh game of the second set.
“I saw a stat after the match that that was the first set in 20-something sets in a row for him,” Schoolkate said. “That was obviously a pretty good feeling grabbing the first.”
Sinner ultimately took over, with the two-time major winner’s class shining through as he dominated the third and fourth sets.
Sinner now boasts a 15-0 record against players at their home Grand Slams, including three against Australians at Melbourne Park.
“It’s obviously the reason he’s at the top of his game, that he could hold his level for longer in that match. He sort of ran away with it a bit,” Schoolkate observed.
“From the third set he lifted his level a little bit, and maybe I dropped off a bit.”
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Despite the loss, Schoolkate has risen to 145th in the ATP live rankings and for the second straight Grand Slam tournament has reached the second round.
In his Australian Open main-draw debut, this marked his first appearance at Rod Laver Arena.
“Definitely something I won’t forget,” Schoolkate said.
“The first hour was probably the most enjoyable hour of tennis I have had in my career.
“Week in, week out on the tour I’m usually not playing in front of too many people. It was pretty cool to have the whole arena screaming my name.
“I had a great experience last week in Adelaide, as well. Obviously a bit smaller than Rod Laver, but yeah, tonight was awesome.”
