Hugo Gaston v Jannik Sinner Full Match | Australian Open 2026 First Round

He's ahead. He's just got to get it in the locker room now. One point slam, he'd be through to the next round. Yes, he would indeed. Simone had a go at that, as did Yannick. Not as successfully. Here we go, Gaston. Left-handed. More solid on his two-handed backhand. You could see Sinner really hammering away at the forehand, but it stood up to the test on that occasion. Promising start for Gaston. Never beaten a top five player before. Lost his previous four meetings and has already achieved something that's been very difficult to do. His last three tournaments of last year, Vienna, Paris and Turin. 15 matches in total for Yannick. He was broken just seven times and in fact, and when you consider the quality of the opposition he was playing, there were 10 top tenners across those 15 matches. He only had to face 25 break points. So three break points early here for Gaston. It was a meaningful stat. Loved the way he took the backhand early. Good approach and not just a makeable volley, probably a volley he should have been winning the point with. Just looked like he took a too big a swing and racket face very open. I was expecting a little drop volley there from the Frenchman. Great points, but he watches two aces go past him and that one chance that he had, you have to take it if you're to have any shot whatsoever. Brilliant serve from Sinner to dig himself out of a hole at the start of this contest. But when it does come together as it has for Yannick, it has made him almost unstoppable. Oh, it's a shame. So well to hang in the point. Yeah, I think the US Open final, his loss to Alcaraz, you know, I didn't think he played particularly well that tournament, if I'm honest, and I wasn't surprised by the final. But I think it was a little bit of a line in the sand for Sinner to go, OK, I need to look at my game again. The serve was obviously high on the agenda, and I think bringing variety back into his performance in terms of mixing in the odd slice, mixing in the occasional drop shot. We saw that work very well from Chirin to finish the season as well. And yeah, some net play, which he's worked on. I know a lot this preseason, but yeah, the serve has worked beautifully, hasn't it? He just looks in a better position, he's a little more side on, the ball toss is under control. And as we saw in that opening game, three aces already to serve himself out of trouble. What a weapon that is to have for the guy that's probably the best baseliner in the game on a hardcore anyway. There's a real tempo to the early exchanges here. Gaston, it looks to me like he's making a conscious effort to try and not be pushed back off the baseline and just spend the entirety of this match chasing the ball. He's trying to go toe-to-toe early. Well, he's not wrong to think that, is he? The further he gets back and the closer he gets back to the Melbourne sign on this court, the more that Yannick is going to be able to exploit the angles and pull the Frenchman off the court. Points, but he does again put on his own serve and so important to insert yourself in the conversation nice and quickly. He's caught that pretty late as well. You can understand why Sinner kind of had already had to gamble going cross-court with the hit coming that late. Peaked out at 58 in the world back in July of 2022. Take a look at this. We touched on the improvements in around the serve and you can see the numbers just climbing into a stratosphere that virtually no one else can live with. They certainly didn't live with him last year. He was the best in terms of service games won and the best in terms of return game won and it's never happened before. Yeah, first player to do it, wasn't he? And finish the year two in the world. Of course, he missed a three-month period. Shows you how good Alcaraz was as well though, doesn't it? The end of this match if he keeps getting stretched out like that though. That's an incredible point to win, isn't it? He had to absorb three or four world-class shots and somehow stole the point. Sinner showing us there he's still not the finished article in that he can accomplish volley. I wouldn't have missed that one. Nice angle to see the kind of skill set that Gaston has at his disposal there. You could see the kind of slower ball. You could see he was just trying to flight that one high. He's not giving Sinner any rhythm out here, understandably so. The onslaught just a little too big from Sinner and then the Italian claims his second service game. Here's how you do it, isn't it? Sensational ball there. This guy, you know, he's a serious mover and he's seriously skillful as well. Look at the way he works the racket around the outside of the ball there. Beautiful. Tempting one run out of the Djokovic playbook there deep through the middle and then trying to spread the play straight off the back of it. A couple of challenger titles last year for Gaston and that's what makes this opening kind of segment of the match so good from Gaston that he just hasn't allowed Sinner the opportunity to just sit on a forehand like that. Yeah, he has to try and limit Sinner's opportunities to wind up and load up the way he did there and I like that from Gaston a lot. I think he has to be prepared to take Sinner out of his comfort zone. You know, bring him forwards on his own terms. Test Sinner's skill set. To a piece as we see some legendary offspring. Bruce Hewitt and Rogers Twins. Pretty good seats there. I wonder how. Well connected. He's got lucky in the lottery. Yeah. It's like a Wimbledon ballot. Which is for Gaston last year was in. Wren actually beat Wawrinka in the final there and Elliot Sposiri in Brest at the back end of the year so that was nice for him. Got off to, well I should say, finish the season in a little bit of good nick which always makes the offseason just that much more palatable. I mentioned it during the warm-up but Sinner, he looks strong to me. He hasn't been skipping leg day in the offseason has he? I don't think he skips one day. You know where a couple of years ago there was a sort of wiry youngster. He's sort of really becoming a man physically isn't it? You know, quite the sort of Roger Federer, you know, real strong base with the legs but he's getting there isn't he? And adding a bit of muscle to the upper body as well looks like. Top tier from Gaston. For the first time showing the ability to step in and take the backhand on the rise and that's like a laser down the line. Well he saw that Gaston had crept in and decided that he'd take on a little bit more risk. Not that much more risk in terms of pace but just in terms of location. Sustainability is going to be the key. Yeah, I think we're already at a stage of the match where it's going to be very difficult for Gaston. Sinner has got that sort of, what, three-point rust was it? Maybe the first three points. He's shaking that off and will only get stronger as this first set develops. Grew up in Toulouse. Once there'll be a tennis club where his dad was the president, was where he started to learn his craft. Got a look over to his corner there, little smile maybe trying to relieve some of the tension. Yeah, that was definitely something that was being worked on in the lab. Yeah and I think maybe just smiling because it wasn't perfect that drop shot was it? I don't think he got the grip change quite right but he made it work and that's what counts. 15, 14. Trouble now for Gaston. He doesn't have the ability to step up here and hit aces as Sinner did from love 40. You have to fight for everything. He did his best to prove you wrong there. I like that exchange in terms of the height of the ball because Yannick had taken up good position on the baseline. He wasn't pushing him back but he's managed to save the first of the two break points. You have to admire that play from Gaston. It's a risk serve volleying but it's sort of risk he has to be prepared to take and he's got the skills to make it work. Read the play, and already showing how well he can volley. It's just so rangy on the return isn't it? It's it's such aggressive on the end of range on the return. He's up there with the best ever on return of serve isn't he? You know you could probably argue he might be the best. You know he's operating at such a high level. Similar to the backhand at 15, 14. Maybe just snatching at slightly. He's trying to force the break. And an XO in South Korea on the way down here with Alcaraz. Yeah it's unlucky for Gaston. That miss here ended up landing in a very different and difficult part of the court for the Frenchman to defend against. The forehand racket face closed. Very close to the ball on the take back and then just whips it through with the wrist. So it generates power but huge amounts of spin as we saw in that rally. Let's hope he's okay. Great to see that the thumbs up from Gaston. A nice touch from Sinner to check he's all okay. Nice change up wasn't it? Sinner just got his foot stuck didn't it? Didn't slide at all. That's what he was looking for. You know what that's great technique on the commander role though isn't it? You know he has got the elbow tucked, the racket out of the way. He's done that before. And Yannick's done that before. Perfect point again for Gaston but probably should have just gone with the traditional volley here rather than the short one. Yeah I think punch that one through the court. Yeah potentially. Either way just too much depth if he was going to go for an angle wasn't it? And Sinner's too quick to not chase that down. And Yannick got it low enough that he could kind of hustle forward to try and cover the drop shot. And maybe Gaston felt as though he wasn't going to get enough pace on it. It was going to be a sitting duck anyway. Sinner with some nice touch of his own. Yeah. You're sort of wondering as that ball was dipping what was he going to come up with there. And I have to say he came up with a pretty tasty little half volley. Nice soft hand on the racket. Light grip that's the key there. Big differential in terms of how these two are hitting their ground strokes at the moment. Yeah you can see the average net clearance on their top spin ground shots. Forehand and backhand significantly higher on both sides Gaston. And the challenge is that that means his ball's bouncing up to shoulder height for Sinner to just hammer down on. All things considered I actually think Gaston's made a pretty good start to this match. But now that Sinner's in the groove it's actually not the best news for him either. Exactly. You know now that Sinner's in the groove it's just a complete control. It'll be a tough night for Hugo. Yeah he couldn't capitalize on what was the slowest start from Sinner. But as Colin says the Italian is moving through the gears nicely now. 5-2. Now look at that fall the dive and tumble from Gaston. It could have been the early thumbs up. Last thing you want to see is a player forced to retire with injury. Defending champ. 5-2 up in the opener. Gaston start of the year had a tough one didn't he in Brisbane. He played an old in quality. He's had a couple of match points serving for it in that third. Lost it in a deciding set. Breaker. Then went to Auckland. Managed to qualify. Lost to Cam Norrie in the opening round three and four. I think the third member of our evening session has joined us. Wally Massure you there? You made your way here? I'm here. I've watched the first set and we have a saying down here in Australia vive la difference. I have really enjoyed watching Gaston go about his work. He's skillful. Draws the error but he's barely played two consecutive points the same. You know the flight, the pace, the spin. It's been really good to watch. Look obviously he can't stand up to the barrage. That is the ground shots of Yannick Sinner but he's a skillful player. There's no question about it and that tumble happened right before my eyes and luckily it was knee over toe. Hate to see an ankle ligament snapped in this situation. And Wally you know I mentioned it. To my eyes Sinner's looking strong. Physically he looks muscular. Are you seeing the same? Yeah no he does. He you know players they just get a little thicker as they get older don't they? They add bulk. Oh that's just it's like it's metronomic just thundering ground shots from Sinner but no Colin I'd have to agree with you. He's a good build for tennis isn't he? Because he's rangy. He's low you know when he moves he moves very low to the ground. He's got a low center of gravity. He's getting stronger with every year. Just think of all those matches each at the end of each season. He gets the opportunity to do some hard work. Some real hard physical work in the gym. It's another pre-season under his belt. He's looking awfully good here tonight. Yeah he chose not to play the Davis Cup finals didn't he? Having won it twice with Italy. You could blame him. Yeah the schedule is so packed he gives himself very little time to just even have a break. They're so deep in terms of men's tennis right now that they ended up winning it anyway and actually allowed a couple of the players to come out of his shadow. Berrettini of course has been out of it in terms of the quality but Kibale was magnificent. I mean you've got to enjoy that play from Gaston though don't you? I mean you can't stand toe-to-toe with this man so he's trying everything every trick in the book to try to unsettle him and he's got a big skill set. He just he just lacks that knockout punch in any rally. From Sinner and that is a brilliant end to the set for the defending champion. 6-2 on the previous year because of Yannick's success there. The privilege to be courtside of those ATP tour finals in Turin and that final against Alcaraz. That atmosphere for me will live long in the memory. It was incredible every move this guy makes in Italy. It's in the papers, he's everywhere. You walk down the street and you see his faces on the billboards, you see his name in the papers, he's box office as you say. It's not like the Italians are passionate anyways and then you put one of their own out there and it's like a football soccer match kind of atmosphere. You know you talk about the fact that Yannick's worked on his serve over the years and what I like most about it is when he sets up he just looks completely relaxed. It looks like you'd almost push him over the little finger and then the takeaway is slow. It's a real easy action, he just gathers momentum. There's no hitches, there's no breaks and from here it's smooth. I think even after Wimbledon this year when he won it and in the press conference he was talking about things that he'd seen in the match that he needed to go away and start working on it. Their obsession is something that is as impressive as their actual games. Yes, a constant pursuit of greatness and of improvement. A nice interview with Darren Cahill, you know with regards to that match in Roland Garros you mentioned 2023, the lost Altmaier and they were planning work on the serve but maybe in the offseason and Yannick said no no, tomorrow we start working on the serve. I want it better now and they just get straight into it and it was the same after the US Open final wasn't it? If you go and read the comments from his press conference he spoke about not having enough variety in that match, hardly serve volleying in the tournament and all the work that he was going to go away and do and it started almost immediately and there we see him again coming forwards, winning a point at the net. He is continuing to improve as a player. From the Italian, I really thought Gaston had defused that situation. I think it will give him a lot of confidence winning points like this against a player like Gaston who's so quick and skillful. Colin, I was just thinking about what you were saying, you know the pursuit of excellence. We had Novak on last night, he's very much in the same mindset, isn't he? And is that the commonality amongst the very best players in the world that they are just so curious to see what's out there, to see how they can improve? Consider they come from different backgrounds, different personalities, different body shapes. I think if you look at Sinner, you look at Alcaraz as the same, you know the work he's done with his own serve and in this game the way he continues to get better. You mentioned Djokovic, who maybe as one of the great serves now, didn't have a great serve earlier in his career. You know, you look at Nadal, you think of how good his backhand was towards the end, how his game had to evolve when he wasn't able to maybe cover the court in the same ways. It's like, okay my backhand needs to become a weapon now. I think their ability to always work hard but work smart, to always get better, to add layers to their games, maybe does differentiate them from even, you know, very, very good players into being the great ones. That'll feel good, taking that on the rise nice and early. I feel a bit sorry for Gaston when he gets to the net because he's actually a very good volleyer and he knows how to transition but if he doesn't hit that first volley for a winner, we just see that clocked. He has no reach, you know, foot speed doesn't necessarily help you at the net. You need anticipation and reach and he's been passed a few times off of reasonable volleys. And just like last night, we saw Novak as soon as Pedro Martínez moved back just even one big step. He served the volley to take away any advantage that Martínez was trying to gain by going back and giving himself a bit more time. Yannick quickly swiveling his serve right into the body of Gaston, not giving him any width to lean on another second serve return. They are seven on the court. From Gaston, it was a very quick second serve trying to keep Gaston at bay. There's tennis that's very easy on the eye, isn't it? You know, obviously we know what Sinner's about but as Wally says, you know, the way Gaston plays, the skills he has is making for some brilliant points and nicely done there from Gaston. That was an incredible volley, wasn't it? He shaved right across the ball, inside out, found the corner. Almost has to be that good. Interesting look down the court after he wins that point. That was almost like one of those where that's what we've been working on. That's what I need to have the confidence to do in a big moment. Yeah, the whole team were on their feet and, you know, Sinner's 6-2, 2-0 up and the whole team were on their feet when he gets to 30-0 because exactly what you've just said. It's the recognition of the work they've been doing and to win points like that can be the difference maker potentially when we fast forward to the end of the tournament. I mentioned his quotes after the lost Alcaraz in the US Open final. You know, he spoke of the variety etc but one thing he said is you can't just get to the final and, you know, face Alcaraz and suddenly start to hit drop shots and come to the net and it's been very clear tonight, hasn't it? That, you know, yes he wants to win this match but he wants to, you know, apply the skills that he's been working on and in that regard it's gone very well for him so far. Gaston keeps coming at Sinner and keeps throwing some good stuff down his end but it is Sinner who continues to excel. Three loves, second set. Went back and he changed the tide. It was a great example of what we just showed you on the animation happening in real life. It's certainly not the biggest second serve by any stretch of the imagination out here. That one kind of tickled in at 136 k's but Yannick, one of the best returners that's ever played the game, goes backwards against the slowest serve but it wasn't because of the pace. It's the plus one shot from the Frenchman that has been bothering him and had he not gone back he would have been in trouble off the shot that Gaston hit. Yeah and obviously with Gaston being a lefty it's always just that slightly more awkward, isn't it, to get that clean strike on the ball even a slower second serve. Split second more time for Sinner, get the big hit in and dominate the point from there. It's interesting, isn't it? I've seen quite a few players very enthusiastic this week and during the United Cup, you know, really trying to take the second serve on and called a match with Alex Mikkelsen today and his coach Cristian Pflegen said look don't lunge at the return, come back, let it come to you. Because if you get up inside the baseline and you don't get a good piece of it well then you've got to retreat and it's very hard to change direction when you're retreating. So you've got to kind of earn the right to move forward and take that serve early. That's been his most successful play really in recent times. Thing of beauty, wasn't it? That's how to take a second serve early. Tough mentally for Gaston now, isn't it? You know he started well, got to two all. He's lost the last eight games since. Very hard for him to have any belief at this stage but you just got to couldn't resist it. You've got to keep fighting, don't you? And almost just for as long as you're trying to enjoy the experience of testing your skill set against one of the best ever do it. But I have to say Wally, his body language still looks pretty good to me. Oh yeah, he's throwing everything he's got at this contest, Gaston. Just overran it there and a little clip off the backside before it hit the racket I think. But no, I'm very impressed with him. He's very talented and as I say I just feel a little bit sorry. He just lacks a bit of the reach and the power to threaten at this level. Yeah, that is just something that Gaston doesn't have up his sleeve around the corner to bail him out of trouble. And you know he's so ruthless, isn't he? We heard after the previous point which he lost his team sort of, you know, encouraging him, keeping him focused. They want the performance, you know, at its peak from start to finish. He's Yeah, they don't want to give any roadmaps away about how to stay competitive and that is a very determined look over to the corner from Sinner himself. Five love. Yeah, maybe just a slightly ill-timed Forza Janik I think there. But when he has that time, when he's had an opportunity to go to work, he's accomplished some really nice things tonight. Novak jokingly saying that Carlos needs to give him a bit of commission every time he hits an ace or holds on to his serve as he goes through this tournament, seeing that he has imitated his service motion from what he's seen. Maybe he can nick a bit of cash as well because I'm sure he's a bit hard up these days off Janik, off that type of return because that's exactly the kind of prototype that he brought to the game in terms of returning. Yeah, and moving on a hard court. You look at the way these guys move on a hard court. For me, that was Djokovic. I feel changed the game in that regard. I don't know if you agree, but open stance sliding into the backhand corner, particularly with two hands. I hadn't seen that before Djokovic and now they all do it. Guys, can you patent a motion, a shot? Can Novak patent that serve? I didn't have any shots worth patenting, so I never really inquired. Isn't your son a legal eagle? I'll ask him. Yeah, you should ask him. Get in the Australian patent office and see whether you can make a bit of cash. Nice little rear guard action from Gaston. This may be a bit of a cameo performance here at the back end of this second set, but nice to see he's still here fighting hard. That is some vicious dip on the ball that Gaston imparted. Yeah, really intelligent shot. He wasn't trying to hit a winner there, but he knew he was going to make life very difficult for Sinner. It's one of those matches as well that if you're watching and talk about Yannick wanting to serve and volley, introduce a little bit more of that into his game, but it's not really the knight and the opponent to do it, I would say. And I say that because Gaston is up on the baseline and the ball's coming back quickly. Yannick's putting in a quick serve. He's going to get caught probably behind the service line for the first volley. And then it actually ends up becoming a bit of a negative because then you don't think you're being as successful. You don't necessarily want to put it into play in the right moments in a match when somebody's gone deeper or they don't return quite as well as Gaston. And actually, you kind of get away from the things that you feel as though you should be doing. And that was a great example of that. But Pitch, I would always go the other way, because every time Yannick's come in, if he's had a good shot or a bad shot, he's almost had a sneaky look at his camp. And, you know, the idea that you're going to win every point when you come in because that's what you've been working on. Well, that's not going to happen. You don't win every point at the back either. So, you know, he's been dragged in a few times by short balls. He's come in of his own volition a few times, but I think the more he does it, the better. And yes, Gaston is tricky. Don't get me wrong, in rally, yes, I think he needs to come in. I think he needs to learn where to position himself and the angles and everything else. I'm just saying purely on a certain volley play against a certain player, if you do it against the wrong person, it actually ends up kind of scaring you because you aren't successful. Yeah, when you're introducing something new, nice for it to go well in the early stages of this sort of test phase, isn't it? I mean, it's good, Gaston. It's not bad. Against most people living on this planet Earth, it would have been good enough, but it's unfortunately not good enough against the two-time defending champion. Oh, no. I realise that it's happened for some of them here. They are going to be massively disappointed with that. Where has that come from? And he's in tears. Yeah, you feel for him when you see this. Were you guys seeing anything from your vantage point? The movement looked okay. I mean, it looked great, to be honest. I couldn't see anything necessarily. Devastated. You feel for him.