LONDON, July 1 : Defending Wimbledon champion Jannik Sinner had several members of Europe’s Ryder Cup team watching his second-round clash with Nuno Borges on Wednesday and in golfing parlance he kept it straight down the middle in a relatively risk-free victory.
After the hazards he found against Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic in a nervy five-set victory in round one, top seed Sinner rarely looked in danger as he won 7-6(4) 7-6(2) 6-4.
World number 48 Borges provided stubborn resistance and was a point away from taking the second set, but Sinner was rock-solid when it mattered as he avoided another long contest.
Sinner, the hot favourite in the absence of injured chief rival Carlos Alcaraz, failed to convert any of the three break points he earned in the opening set but stepped on the throttle in the tiebreak to take the opener.
He strayed off course at the start of the second set and sprayed a forehand long to drop his serve.
Portugal’s Borges stayed ahead throughout the set, but serving at 5-4 he buried a routine backhand into the net on set point and paid the price as Sinner broke back and then reeled off six points in a row to win the second tiebreak of the match.
Sinner dominated thereafter to rack up an Italian record 95th Grand Slam match win, moving ahead of Nicola Pietrangeli.
SHELTON STUNNED
Ben Shelton wasted a match point in the fifth-set tiebreaker against qualifier Otto Virtanen at Wimbledon in what the fourth-seeded American called “one of the toughest losses of my career.”Shelton was eliminated 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (8), 6-2, 7-6 (9) on Tuesday, losing in the first round at the grass-court Grand Slam for the first time in his young career.
The 23-year-old Shelton led 8-5 in the deciding 10-point tiebreaker against his 140th-ranked opponent and had match point at 9-8 but made an unforced error and then lost the next two points.
SABALENKA SURVIVES
World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka survived a spirited fightback from American McCartney Kessler to book her place in the third round of Wimbledon, recovering from 5-2 down in the second set and saving four set points before sealing a hard-fought 6-1, 7-6(9) victory on Wednesday.
Sabalenka will now face former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko. Ostapenko delivered one of the day’s strongest performances, defeating Croatia’s Antonia Ruzic 6-2, 6-0 in just 66 minutes.
The Latvian wiped away memories of her error-filled first-round win over Harriet Dart, in which she had 13 double faults. She hit an impressive 34 winners against just 10 unforced errors.Sabalenka, on the other hand, felt relieved to win in straight sets after Kessler significantly raised her game in the second set.
MEDVEDEV MADE TO TOIL
Eighth seed Daniil Medvedev laboured to a 3-6 6-3 7-5 6-2 victory over Spanish Wimbledon debutant Daniel Merida in the second round on Wednesday and thanked his serve for the win.The 30-year-old Russian took a while to find his range on Court Two against Merida, 21, a busy all-court player, who broke into the top 100 this year and is now ranked 84th in the world. Medvedev, seeking a second Grand Slam trophy, looked as though he found tennis a chore. (Agencies)
