Jannik Sinner gave another reminder of his development as a grass-court talent Tuesday at the Terra Wortmann Open in Halle, where the 21-year-old began his maiden campaign at the ATP 500 with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 triumph against Richard Gasquet.

Playing in just his 12th tour-level match on grass, Sinner overcame a tough challenge from Gasquet with consistent, clean baseline hitting, particularly in the first and third sets. Despite a strong fightback from Gasquet, who notched his 600th career win by defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas in Stuttgart last week, the Italian finished with 41 winners to Gasquet’s 25 in his 31st tour-level win of the season.

“[Grass] is a surface where I feel like I still have to learn maybe the most amount of all the three surfaces,” Sinner, who reached the quarter-finals in ‘s-Hertogenbosch last week, told ATPTour.com after the match. “On the other hand, I guess it’s a positive thing. The last days after ‘s-Hertogenbosch I practised many hours, trying to feel my game, trying to feel my movement.

“I felt today I was moving much better today than the last match. Every match is good and positive. I win or I learn, and even if I win I try to learn. Today I had a lot of chances in the second set, I couldn’t use them, but still I reacted well in the third seat.”

With his two-hour, 29-minute victory, Sinner improved to 12-0 in opening-round matches for 2023. He now leads Gasquet 2-0 in the pair’s ATP Head2Head series after defeating the Frenchman in straight sets in Indian Wells in March.

The 21-year-old Sinner will take on countryman Lorenzo Sonego next after the World No. 39 also came through in three sets against Aslan Karatsev. Sonego triumphed 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 in what was also his main-draw debut in Halle.