Sinner breezes past Kecmanovic to reach Wimbledon 4th round

Jannik Sinner is through to the Wimbledon fourth round for the third consecutive year after a clinical 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 win over Miomir Kecmanovic under a closed Centre Court roof Friday night.

The top seed and World No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings needed four sets to defeat Yannick Hanfmann in the first round and fellow Italian Matteo Berrettini in the second round, when he needed to produce some of his best tennis to move past the former Wimbledon finalist.

But strong serving and measured play from the baseline was enough to take Sinner to a routine win over Kecmanovic in one hour, 37 minutes. After dropping serve three times against Berrettini, the Australian Open champion didn’t face a break point until the final game of the match and dropped just six points on his first serve.

“It’s been a very, very busy day here on the Centre Court so I’m glad to finish it off and now get some good recovery,” Sinner said. “It feels great to be back here… I love the atmosphere here.

“Me and my team are working very hard to be in this position. My game has improved but we still keep making sacrifices to improve more. I feel the combination with me and my team, we try to get better each day as a player and a person.”

Sinner spent 27 per cent of the match in attacking positions compared to Kecmanovic's 22 per cent. He clipped 35 winners to 16, including 11 aces.

? JANNIK WINNER ?

Sinner does it again as he takes out Kecmanovic 6-1 6-4 6-2 ?@wimbledon | #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/m93UNFi7cr

Sinner next faces the winner of the all-left-handed battle between 14th seed Ben Shelton and Canadian Denis Shapovalov; that match was suspended due to rain after just five games were completed Friday.

A potential semi-final showdown with defending champion Carlos Alcaraz remains alive, following the Spaniard's five-set win over Frances Tiafoe earlier in the day.

Sinner has the chance to tighten his grip on the quest to finish the year No. 1 for the first time by taking the Wimbledon title. Sinner already boasts a 1,135-point lead over second-placed Alexander Zverev in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, which serves as an indicator of who will claim ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by PIF honours.

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