“I’m not a machine,” says Jannik Sinner after dropping a set against Denis Shapovalov

Jannik Sinner has been in red-hot form in the recent past and he was able to get past Denis Shapovalov in a four-set contest in the third round of the US Open at the Arthur Ashe Stadium on Saturday. Sinner lost the opening set against the Canadian by 7-5 and said he is not a machine and can make a few mistakes.

Sinner was trailing by 2-5 in the opener but bounced back to make it five-all. However, the Italian could not hold his serve in the 12th game to concede the opening set.

“I’m not a machine, you know,” Sinner said with the hint of a smile Saturday. “I also struggle, sometimes.”

“That I have pressure and tension is normal. I’ve had that for a year, and you need to handle it,” Sinner said. “Either you handle it — or you don’t. … It’s better to have to deal with that than not.”

As it was expected, Sinner won the match in four sets but it wasn’t a walk in the park for the World No.1. After leveling the match at set-apiece, Sinner trailed Shapovalov by 3-0 in the third set, but once again kept his nerves to make a comeback. In the end, Sinner claimed a 5-7, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 win to enter the last 16.

“I was able to put pressure on Jannik today,” Shapovalov said, “so who says that another player can’t do the same?”

“We were going toe to toe. It was a very close match. A lot of games were very close,” said Shapovalov, a left-hander from Canada who was a Wimbledon semifinalist in 2021. “He’s No. 1 for a reason. He dealt with it really well. He fights extremely well. He did a tremendous job to turn it around down 3-0 in the third there.”

Sinner will next take on Alexander Bublik in the round of 16 on Monday.