Jannik Sinner has form for being understated. His assessment of his 6-1, 6-1, 6-4 win over Aleksandar Vukic bore little resemblance to the 100 minutes of one-sided tennis that the crowd had just witnessed.

“I’m very happy today because playing against him is very, very difficult,” he said. “Huge serve. And I tried to return as many balls as possible and trying to be solid on the baseline. I struggled a little to close it out, but I’m very happy. Every match is difficult and I’m just happy to be in the next round.

“I enjoyed it because I won the game. If not, I don’t know. You know, the match can change very quickly: if he breaks me there, it can go the long distance. I’m happy to finish with the roof open. So I’m very happy to win in straight sets.”

Vukic did have a chance to break in the final game of the match. But at this elite level, that is all you might get. The evidence of the previous two sets and eight games had shown us all that Sinner was untouchable and Vukic was on his way home.

The 29-year-old Australian was hoping against hope that he could pull off the upset of The Championships so far by beating the world No.1. If he could do it, he would bring his tally of match wins for the year up to seven. Sadly for him, the bloke he was playing notched up his seven-match win mark in the first two weeks of his season. And they won him the Australian Open title.

To make matters worse, after seven games, the Australian was a set down and the crowd did not know quite how to react. Applauding Sinner’s successes seemed almost cruel after a while.

There was enthusiastic cheering when world No.93 Vukic won his opening service game in the third set and put himself on level terms with the No.1 seed. A stunning passing shot brought rapturous applause when he made it 2-2. But he was still two sets down. The crowd were doing their best but they knew they were powerless to help take on the world's very best in this ferocious form.

Tennis players are always talking about improving. No matter how good they are, they know they have to keep moving forward or else the chasing pack will catch them. But to look at Sinner, it is hard to work out what he could do better. The serve is all-but impregnable, the ground strokes are cracked with precision and power on both flanks, he moves with balance and fluidity, he is happy to come forward when he has to – is there nothing this man cannot do? Against Vukic, apparently not.

There was a murmur of concern over Sinner’s knee in the third set. Was it sore? Had he tweaked it? While the crowd peered at the Italian’s leg and the commentators discussed the possibility, Sinner kept on doing what he usually does. But by now, Vukic was starting to look a little more like himself, too. He kept on level terms as the cheers grew louder.

However, Sinner had had enough of this parity business and having held for 4-3, he set about the Vukic serve. He picked on the Australian’s backhand like a playground bully. He sent his rival chasing from one side of the court to the other until he dragged the error from Vukic’s racket strings and broke for the final time.

Now, if we are to get picky, we could point out that a three-time Grand Slam champion really ought be able to serve out a second round match against a world No.93. Sinner needed six match points before he eventually booked his place in the third round. That was verging on the sloppy – not that the world No.1 cared. He was through to play Pedro Martinez on Saturday.