BEIJING (AP) — Top-ranked Jannik Sinner rallied to beat Roman Safiullin 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the second round of the China Open on Saturday and learned afterward that his steroid case is far from over. While Sinner was on court in Beijing, the World Anti-Doping Agency announced it was seeking a ban of one to two years for the U.S.
Open champion who tested positive twice for an anabolic steroid in March but was not suspended in a decision by an independent tribunal announced by the International Tennis Integrity Agency on Aug. 20 because the ITIA determined he was not to blame. Sinner's fate will now be determined by the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sport after WADA said it filed an appeal on Thursday.
“Obviously, I’m very disappointed and also surprised of this appeal, to be honest, because we had three hearings," Sinner said at a press conference after his match Saturday. ”All three hearings came out very positively for me. “You know, I was not expecting it.
I knew it couple of days ago, that they were going to appeal, that today it’s going to go official. But yeah, it’s surprise.” On court Saturday, the two-time Grand Slam champion again found himself behind in the Chinese capital after Safiullin broke serve twice to claim the opening set.
Sinner’s power and laser-like accuracy from the baseline gradually chipped away at his Russian opponent and helped the Italian to win seven straight games from 2-2 in the second set to take the ascendancy and c.