Sinner continues seamless start to Wimbledon bid

Jannik Sinner, the reigning world number one, made a seamless start to his quest for his first Wimbledon victory with a dominant straight-set victory over Aleksandar Vukic from Australia.

In just 100 minutes, Italy’s 23-year-old Sinner, who had already defeated his 93rd-ranked opponent in a commanding display on Centre Court, defeated him in just five games to reach the third round.

After giving his rivals only seven games in his opening match, the three-time major winner gave a further ominous warning as he won 6-1 6-1 6-3.

As Novak Djokovic and the world number 52 Pedro Martinez battle it out for the title in the semi-finals, Spain’s no. 52 contender is on the verge of acclaim.

Every opponent is challenging,” he says. Grand Slam third-round matches are always unique. We saw how many upsets this tournament, so we’ll keep trying to stay focused and improve,” said Sinner.

“Today, I thought the level was one strong point. Although there are some improvements, I’m eager to make them.

Seven-time champion Djokovic defeated Britain’s Dan Evans on Thursday to advance to the third round, and Australian world number 11 Alex de Minaur was one of the athletes who also advanced.

Since becoming the world number one for 56 consecutive weeks, Sinner has never lost to a player other than Carlos Alcaraz.

Sinner’s first defeat to anyone other than his Spanish rival in ten months was a surprise defeat to Alexander Bublik in the Halle Open, which ended his brief grass-court construction following his defeat in the French Open final.

Since taking over Centre Court, Sinner’s progress never seemed to be in jeopardy because he has never been defeated by a player who ranks as low as Vukic in Grand Slam competitions.

Sinner faced a break point in his first professional game of the year, but Vukic, who has never advanced to the third round at the All England Club, was unable to stop him from progressing until that point.

Sinner took 12 of the 13 games out of the first two sets in just 54 minutes after dazzling the crowd with vicious hitting and trademark precision.

In the first set of his campaign, Sinner had to contend with the resistance of the crowd as Vukic offered resistance in the third set, who was aiming to win the third round for a fourth consecutive year.

But in the eighth game, he made the ultimately decisive breakthrough after a brief lapse and two break points.

After saving that with a stunning passing forehand winner and making room for more noise from the crowd, Sinner cruised to victory at the sixth opportunity with an ace, but he still had to endure the frustration of reaching the fifth match point.

On day four, the seeded players continued to struggle as Draper, Paul, Machac, and Auger-Aliassime all lost to lower-ranked players.

Marin Cilic of Croatia defeated Draper in four sets, while Sebastian Ofner of Austria defeated Paul 1-6 7-5 6-4 7-5.

Machac lost a five set marathon in a match tie-break against Denmark’s August Holmgren 7-6 (7-5) 6-7 (8-10) 6-7 (5-7) 7-5 7-6 (10-5), and Auger-Aliassime lost 3-6 7-6 (11-9) 6-3 6-4 to Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff.

De Minaur, who had watched his fiancee and British number two Katie Boulter leave at the same time, defeat 115th-ranked Frenchman Arthur Cazaux 4 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-0 in the first set.

It’s not nice, he said. I’ve worked in those capacities myself and felt for Katie yesterday. It’s not simple to forget about it. De Minaur said, “It kind of stays with you.”