Italy’s Jannik Sinner continued his record run into the fourth round at Wimbledon, showing another example of his dominance at London with a 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 destruction of Spain’s Pedro Martinez.
Sinner, who lost the French Open final on clay to Carlos Alcaraz in devastating fashion, has carried no ill effects into Wimbledon, losing just 17 games through the first three rounds. It ties the record set by Jan Kodes of the Czech Republic in 1972.
Sinner’s dominance has been so complete that the No. 1 player in the world, and top seed, won all 37 of his service games in the opening week of the tournament.
Martinez was no match for Sinner while dealing with a shoulder injury that first required medical attention in the first set when Sinner had a 5-0 lead. Martinez did not have an ace, to 11 for Sinner and won just 53 percent of his first serves to 79 percent for his opponent.
“I’m very happy to be in the second week, but I think we all saw he was struggling with the shoulder,” Sinner said. “He couldn’t serve very well, and especially on this surface, if you can’t serve well, it’s not easy to play. But huge credit to him for coming out. From my side, I tried to stay solid from the back of the court.”
Not only did Sinner save all four break points he faced, he converted six of the 14 he faced against Martinez in the match that lasted just under two hours.
It is the fourth consecutive time in his five visits to Wimbledon that Sinner has advanced to the fourth round.
Sinner next faces Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria, who earned a 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (0) victory over Sebastian Ofner of Austria. Dimitrov had 15 aces to seven for Ofner and won 80 percent of his first-serve points.
No. 6 seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia also cruised into the fourth round, taking out countryman Miomir Kecmanovic 6-3, 6-0, 6-4 in one hour, 47 minutes.
It was the 100th match win at Wimbledon for the seven-time winner as he reached the fourth round for the 17th time. Only Roger Federer (105) has more.
Djokovic will face Australia’s Alex de Minaur, who was a 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-3 winner against Denmark’s August Holmgren. de Minaur won 85 percent of his first serve points and saved four of the five break points he faced.
American Ben Shelton also roared into the fourth round with a 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-2 victory over Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics. Shelton will next face Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego, who won a five-set thriller over American Brandon Nakashima 6-7 (5), 7-6 (8), 7-6 (2), 3-6, 7-6 (3).
Also advancing toward a matchup in the fourth round were Italy’s Flavio Cobolli and Croatia’s Marin Cilic. Cobolli earned a 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Czechia’s Jakub Mensik, while Cilic defeated Spain’s Jaume Munar 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
–Field Level Media
