NEW YORK (AP) — Jannik Sinner looked fully recovered from a recent illness as he started his U.S. Open title defense Tuesday with a 6-1, 6-1, 6-2 victory over Vit Kopriva.

The top-ranked Sinner had to stop playing in the Cincinnati final against Carlos Alcaraz on Aug. 18 because he was sick, pulled out of the U.S. Open mixed doubles tournament that began the next day and said he still wasn’t quite feeling 100% late last week.

But he had extra time to recover with first-round matches now spread over three days with the tournament’s new Sunday start and nothing seemed wrong when the No. 1 seed rolled through his Czech opponent in 1 hour, 39 minutes.

“Obviously very happy that I’m healthy again, that we did our best to be in the best possible shape here,” Sinner said.

The Italian earned h

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