LONDON (AP) — As well as Jannik Sinner is playing at Wimbledon, he doesn’t appear to need much in the way of help. Still, he got some Saturday when his opponent, Pedro Martinez, was dealing with a problematic shoulder and often put in first serves at so-so speeds.
The No. 1-ranked Sinner has dropped a record-tying total of only 17 games so far, made his way to the fourth round for the seventh consecutive Grand Slam tournament — he’s collected three such trophies in that span — and never was truly in trouble during a 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 victory over No. 52 Martinez.
“We all saw that he was struggling,” Sinner said, then noted about his own form: “First week couldn’t have gone better.”
Sinner is the second man in the Open era, which began in 1968, to cede just 17 games through three completed matches at the All England Club. The other player to do that, Jan Kodes, ended up losing in the semifinals in 1972.
For Sinner, there’s been zero sign of any sort of inability to move past last month’s French Open final, which he lost to Carlos Alcaraz in five sets despite taking the first two and holding three championship points.
Against Martinez, Sinner — who returned in May from a three-month doping suspension — went up 5-0 after 20 minutes. During that stretch, Martinez managed one winner, while Sinner accumulated 10.
That’s when Martinez took a medical timeout, and a trainer massaged the back of his right shoulder. The Spaniard was delivering first serves as slow as 76 mph, compared with Sinner’s high of 133 mph.
That aspect of Martinez’s game improved incrementally, but the only, ever-so-brief, moment of intrigue at Centre Court came in the second set, about 75 minutes in, with Sinner up a break and serving at 4-3. That’s where Martinez managed to accrue his first four break points.
Sinner stayed as calm as can be — “I don’t think Sinner’s changed expressions once in this match,” John McEnroe observed on BBC’s telecast — and erased all four of those chances, held for 5-3, then broke to end the set.
Soon enough, Sinner — twice an Australian Open champion, once a U.S. Open champion and a 2023 semifinalist at Wimbledon — was headed into a contest Monday against No. 19 Grigor Dimitrov.
What else happened Saturday at Wimbledon?
A ninth woman in the past nine editions of the tournament will leave the All England Club with the trophy. That’s because defending champion Barbora Krejcikova was eliminated by No. 10 Emma Navarro of the United States 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, and 2022 champion Elena Rybakina lost to No. 23 Clara Tauson by a 7-6 (6), 6-3 score. Krejcikova had her blood pressure checked during a medical timeout in the last set. No. 7 Mirra Andreeva, an 18-year-old Russian, moved into Week 2 with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Hailey Baptiste of the United States, and five-time major title winner Iga Swiatek overwhelmed Danielle Collins 6-2, 6-3. Another fourth-round matchup was set up when No. 19 Liudmila Samsonova and Jessica Bouzas Maneiro advanced. Novak Djokovic picked up his 100th career singles victory at Wimbledon — only Martina Navratilova (120) and Roger Federer (105) have more — and other men’s winners included No. 10 Ben Shelton, No. 11 Alex de Minaur, No. 22 Flavio Cobolli and 36-year-old Marin Cilic, the 2014 U.S. Open champion.
Who is scheduled to play Sunday at the All England Club?
No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, coming off a riveting win against Emma Raducanu, returns to Centre Court to face No. 24 Elise Mertens as the fourth round begins. Sunday’s last scheduled match in the main stadium features two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz against No. 14 Andrey Rublev. Over at No. 1 Court, 2024 U.S. Open runner-up Taylor Fritz begins play at 1 p.m. local time (8 a.m. ET) against Jordan Thompson.
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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
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