Sinner, one of the main outsiders in the Australian Grand Slam, was the first to set foot on Rod Laver Arena in this 2024 edition.
A break at the start of the match, another at the end of the second set, and four games in a row after trailing 2-0 in the third set enabled the young Italian to win in earnest in just over two and a half hours. "It was my first match of the season and I feel good physically, I'm in good shape. This is a tournament where I'd like to play as well as possible," he declared.
Sinner is the only player to have beaten world No. 1 Novak Djokovic after Wimbledon and until the end of the 2023 season. Even twice, at the Masters (in the group phase) and in the Davis Cup. In the second round, he will face Argentina's Pedro Cachin or Dutch qualifier Jesper de Jong.
"It's Sunday today. It's so long to go. But for sure you're aiming for these matches," Sinner said about a potential semi-final encounter with defending champion Djokovic. "But I go day by day. You have one job at a time.
"Today was one player. Wednesday is going to be a different player and you have to try to beat this guy, no? I don't want to say much more about this at the moment, because I feel like there's still a lot of work to do to get to this point.
"Obviously we aim to play big matches in big stadiums, so let's see. It's going to be an interesting tournament."