Jannik Sinner has become only the sixth Italian man in history to reach the quarter-finals at Wimbledon after battling his way past Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday evening.
Sinner, who is making only his second appearance at the Grand Slam, surged to a 6-1, 6-4, 6-7(8), 6-3, win over the teenage sensation who won two Masters 1000 tournaments earlier this year. He has now reached the last eight of a major on three different occasions out of 11 appearances. Furthermore, Sinner’s triumph over Alcaraz ends his five-match losing streak against top 10 players.
“I didn’t expect it because I was not playing very well on the grass and then match after the match I got better,” Sinner admitted after his win. “I won my first match in the first round at Wimbledon and now I’m here in the quarter-finals. I tried to adapt myself and I think the crowd helped me.”
Sunday’s showdown was the third meeting between the two youngest players currently inside the world’s top 20. In fact, with a combined age of just 40 years and 29 days, it was the youngest men’s match to take place during the second week at SW19 since Boris Becker’s quarter-final win over Henri Leconte in 1985.
“Carlos is a very tough opponent and a very nice person so it’s always special for me to play against him,” said the 20-year-old.
Taking to Center Court, it was the slightly older Sinner who was the first to draw blood in the match. Producing impressive defensive skills from the baseline, he broke for a 3-1 lead at the expense of a failed Alcaraz drop shot on break point. Two games later he extended his advantage to a double break as more costly errors, particularly from the forehand side, continued to come off his opponents’ racket. Sinner sealed the opener in a mere 31 minutes by firing a 130 mph ace out wide.
Sinner’s ability to absorb the intensity of Alcaraz’s shot-making proved pivotal as he continued to benefit from an array of mistakes from the Spaniard. Breaking instantly at the start of the second frame, it wasn’t until the following game where the world No.13 experienced his first test which he passed. Coming through a three-deuce service game where he also fended off a break point. Continuing to tame the threat coming from Alcaraz, he clinched a two-set lead with a love service game.
However, Alcaraz was never going to go down without a fight. Orchestrating the crowd to get behind him, he finally began producing a level of tennis that has established him as one of the best players in the world this year. During a roller-coaster third set tiebreak, the Spaniard saw a trio of set point chances come and go before then having to save two match points. His perseverance eventually paid out when on his fourth chance a Sinner shot landed out to hand him the set.
Alcaraz’s spirited performance was still not enough to change the outcome of the match. In the fourth set Sinner broke once again before coming back from a 0-40 deficit in the following game to move ahead 4-1. That gave him enough of a margin to close the match out after more than three-and-a-half hours of roller-coaster play.
“It’s tough when you had match point (opportunities) and you still have to play. I tried my best, it is just part of the game,” Sinner commented on the third set and his recovery. “Obviously I am very happy with how I reacted because in the fourth set at the beginning I was struggling. I’m very happy to be in the next round and hopefully, I can also play some good tennis.”
The youngster now faces a potential showdown with world No.1 Novak Djokovic. They have clashed only once before, which was at the Monte Carlo Masters last year where Sinner only managed to win six games during his defeat.
