Archive July 3, 2025

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.”

Michael Conlan, a featherweight from Belfast, says he is “probably one of the most trolled fighters” in boxing, but he won’t allow online jibes to detract from his desire to excel professionally.

The 33-year-old admits that this is his “last roll of the dice” as he works toward a third tilt after falling short in his previous two world title fights.

In the second fight of a comeback that started in Brighton with a points win over Asad Asif Khan and improved his record to 19-3, Conlan will take on England’s Jack Bateson in Dublin on September 5.

Prior to that March victory, the Olympic bronze medalist had contemplated retiring after a pro-style loss to Jordan Gill in December of 2023 for 16 months.

He described the online abuse as “well-used to it” and continued. When it comes to this game, I’m a very selfish person. It’s a lot of work.

The dedication is visible for everyone to see because “I’ve missed a lot of my own children’s lives.”

Conlan has endured difficult circumstances throughout his career, not the least of which was when he was on the verge of defeating then-WBA champion Leigh Wood in the 12th round.

He now acknowledges that despite still having inner confidence, he is not infallible inside the squared circle because of harsh lessons in the ring that have given him a new perspective.

Conlan said, “Boxing is a sport you can love as much as you want, but it will never love you back.”

Ego is a big deal when playing fight games when you’re younger. Not everyone is Floyd Mayweather like you think you can’t be beatable and you’re never going to lose.

When you lose, boxing can humble you. You’re losing in front of the millions of people watching worldwide. It’s challenging.

You cause conversation,” Although it’s not a pleasant feeling, you soon learn that words are just words and that you can only use them to affect you if you allow them.

The 2015 world amateur champion has a plan for the following year, and should Bateson’s test be safe, he intends to fight later in the year in “perhaps in Belfast, Dublin, or even New York,” with the hope that this will lead to a second world title opportunity.

Conlan is aware, however, that if he is defeated on September 5th, they will be useless.

Conlan said, “Jack’s a tough opponent, so I think it’s the right fight at the right time.”

“If I were to lose and, listen, there is every chance of that,” I would happily say that’s it, but I’m not done until then.

After suffering a shock second-round defeat by Marin Cilic, 36, the British number one’s search for a breakout Wimbledon run continues.

Croatia’s Cilic, who reached the SW19 final in 2017, lost to fourth seed Draper, who is now ranked 83rd in the world, 6-4, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4.

In any of his four appearances at the All England Club, the Englishman, 23, has not yet advanced to the third round.

Draper, Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, Jannik Sinner, and Carlos Alcaraz, were all thought to be the men’s title contenders.

However, Draper has experienced yet another obstructing early exit in his first Championships since Andy Murray’s time.

“I feel] really upset, [of course]. One of my toughest losses, according to a sensitive Draper at a press conference.

“From beginning to end, I thought Cilic played a fantastic match.” ]He] didn’t let up. He deserved victory, I believe.

Cilic, who had a huge serve and deep returns in the opening two sets, was the semi-finalist of the US Open and was immediately pushed backwards.

Draper needed to win a professional match from set zero in order to take on the player in a position he had never previously held.

The home favorite took control of the third set thanks to a slower pace from Cilic, but Draper’s wily opponent recovered to win a tense match.

Draper firmly believed he could handle the scrutiny of being the nation’s greatest hope as he prepared for the Grand Slam tournament that he hosted.

After making it to the Queen’s semi-finals, Draper regained his position as the world’s number four.

As the title-heavy favorites, he was guaranteed to avoid world number one Sinner or two-time defending champion Alcaraz until at least the semi-finals as fourth seed.

However, Draper was quick to warn against overdoing the seeding until the draw was conducted, and he was correct.

In his opening match on Tuesday, the Briton did not have much luck, dominating clay-court expert Sebastian Baez by one set and a half before the Argentine retired hurt.

However, Cilic’s looming role was always going to be more problematic.

Due to Cilic’s flawless execution of his game plan, Draper had to take the racquet out of his hand during the opening two sets.

Working wonders, Draper excelled at using depth from the ground up, especially when he put pressure on his opponent’s backhand.

Although his first serve prevented three break points at 4-3 down, Draper couldn’t get his forehand to where he should have it when the opener set came to an end.

Draper lost serve once more early in the second set, which turned out to be a decisive break as the clouds started to gather over Court One and the atmosphere became more gloomy.

Draper is eagerly anticipating his Murray moment at Wimbledon, where he accomplishes the unthinkable at the All England Club and creates waves all over the country during the summertime.

When Richard Gasquet and the Scots came back from set down in 2008, Murray-mania exploded.

It might have been a similar kind of moment for Draper if he had turned things around for Cilic.

The Briton immediately began to worry about Cilic’s name appearing in Draper’s section of the Wimbledon draw.

The tall Croat, who was the only Grand Slam winner at the 2014 US Open, has since suffered a serious knee injury and dropped down the rankings.

Cilic’s career might have come to an end with a second operation in May of last year.

However, he has shown great perseverance to return to the game, and he dropped to the second-tier ATP Challenger to start over.

He showed promise by winning the Nottingham title last month, which he could still do well on the grass.

Few people, however, would have anticipated that he would defeat Draper.

“My emotions are unimaginable. I can’t even describe where I was two years ago. He claimed that the journey has been “long.”

Second Rothesay Test, Edgbaston (day two of five)

India 587: Gill 269, Jadeja 89; Bashir 3-167

England 77-3: Brook 30*; Deep 2-36

England trail by 510 runs

England’s top order was blown away after Shubman Gill’s mammoth 269 for India to leave the hosts requiring their most unlikely turnaround yet under captain Ben Stokes after two days of the second Test at Edgbaston.

Gill’s epic helped India pile up 587 and, after five sessions in the field, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope and Zak Crawley all fell to leave England 77-3 at the close.

Duckett and Pope, England’s centurions from their comeback win in the first Test, were caught in the slips off consecutive deliveries in seamer Akash Deep’s second over.

Crawley wafted at Mohammed Siraj to offer another edge on 19 as India, who faced huge questions coming into this Test, took total control.

Harry Brook was skittish in making 30 not out – he finished alongside Joe Root who has 18 – and could easily have deepened England’s woes.

Gill had earlier effortlessly compiled the highest score by an India batter in England and the highest score by an Indian skipper anywhere in the world.

After resuming on 114, Gill extended his partnership with Ravindra Jadeja to 203 to steer India away from early danger and when Jadeja fell for 89, he put on 144 with Washington Sundar to drive home the advantage.

England have made a habit of pulling off the improbable under Stokes but this was already their toughest task before India’s triple strike.

They have conceded 500 three times under this regime and won on each occasion.

None of those three previous totals were as large as India’s here, however. In fact, only once has a team conceded so many and lost – New Zealand, who countered Bangladesh’s 595-8 declared to win in 2017.

Although the pitch remains largely good for batting, India’s bowlers found more movement and zip than England’s managed all day.

They did not miss Jasprit Bumrah with Deep stepping up to replace the world’s leading bowler who is resting.

Looking forward, intrigue is added by Stokes’ previous insistence that his side will not play for draws.

Such is cricket, Duckett followed his 149 last week with a five-ball duck in the Midlands.

Where his wish to play every ball outside off stump had helped him in England’s chase there, here it resulted in a thick edge to third slip where Gill took a tumbling catch.

Dropped catches were a major factor in India’s inability to close out a win in Leeds but on this occasion they caught every chance.

KL Rahul juggled Pope’s edge at first slip before clinging on and first slip Karun Nair snaffled Crawley, who had begun the innings with two crunching drives.

While Deep’s skiddy nature found seam movement, the 1.1 degrees of swing India found with the new ball was almost double what England had managed.

If any England fans expected Brook to be defensive, they would have been disappointed.

After being beaten twice by Siraj in his opening deliveries and surviving an umpire’s call lbw review to the same bowler, he stepped away to slap the seamer for four and charged him to loft a six.

Having shown the utmost control on day one, Gill increased his intent after his resumption but there was no real increase in jeopardy as India carried on from 310-5.

He edged Chris Woakes through the slips in the second over of the day but that was to a delivery that was a front-foot no-ball anyway. Otherwise he was untroubled as he played a series of glorious drives, pulls and cuts.

England went through their plans. They tried the bouncer ploy with six fielders on the leg side and Brook bowled five overs of his unattractive medium pace which cost 31.

Brook’s introduction allowed Gill to go from 200 to 250 in just 37 deliveries, in the process passing Sunil Gavaskar’s 221 in 1979 to become the highest scoring Indian in an innings in England.

His 200th run had taken India beyond the 471 they made in defeat at Headingley and brought him his first Test double century to go with one in one-day internationals.

England struggled to extract anything from the surface. Josh Tongue found a bit of lift to bounce out Jadeja before lunch and Root a hint of turn to bowl Sundar in the afternoon.

Ex-England captain Michael Vaughan: “We’re having a summer that’s quite warm, a dry summer. The theory of England chasing, they have chased well and gone 1-0 up in the series, you’ve got to look at the bigger picture sometimes.

“Someone like Shoaib Bashir, he’s a young 21-year-old off-spinner and he keeps getting asked to bowl on day one with nothing there against some quality players and you can’t just be a one-trick pony team where you just think ‘well that’s the way that we play and that’s the way we go about our business’. Will they chase in Australia? I very much doubt it.”

England spin bowling coach Jeetan Patel: “We decided to bowl and we’ll stick by that. On the first day it showed enough for us and we created a lot of opportunities and it didn’t go our way.