Wimbledon: Sinner beats Struff to reach the semi-finals against Djokovic

It used to be his weakest shot – certainly not a decisive one. Today, it was the shot that secured his place in the Wimbledon semi-finals: the serve was the weapon with which Sinner, on Court 1, prevailed against 36-year-old Jan-Lennard Struff in the quarter-finals (the Italian fired 16 aces). It finished 7-5, 7-6, 6-3. It was a match with few rallies, a battle of first serves – the German, with his height, is no pushover – which determined the course of the first two sets. In the first set, the deadlock was broken at 5-all when Sinner managed to respond effectively by breaking serve with a thunderous forehand. The second set was more eventful, with a break (by Sinner) and a counter-break early on, followed by further wasted opportunities, until it went to a tie-break. And here, as he always does, Jannik raised the bar, stunning his opponent and immediately taking a 5–2 lead. Of the two set points (6–4 in his favour), the first was enough. In the third set, Struff, ranked 74th, was losing momentum, whilst Jannik played with greater composure. Overall, it was a solid, if not particularly entertaining, match, with the Italian still some way off the performances that have had fans dreaming.

What matters is that I’ve reached my third Wimbledon semi-final, my second in a row (my tenth in a Grand Slam). “I need to raise my game. I’m playing quite well; I’m getting a bit better every day; today was a tough match; he started very well, he put the pressure on, then I found my rhythm. There’s room for improvement: it’s necessary for the next match, I know, but I’m fairly relaxed. I enjoy playing in the big matches,” he said at the press conference.

He now faces Novak Djokovic, who, as expected, beat Félix Auger-Aliassime this evening in a hard-fought and thrilling match that only ended in a super tie-break after more than five hours of play. The crowd, large and enthusiastic right to the very end, were treated at times to some spectacular tennis, featuring drop shots, passing shots, gruelling baseline rallies and incredible saves. The Serbian gave it his all, eventually managing to get the better of the impressive and lightning-fast Canadian, who left the court with his head down, disappointed, to the applause of the Centre Court crowd.

On Friday, Sinner will therefore have the chance to heal the wound from last year’s Australian Open semi-final: that defeat to Djokovic denied him the chance of a hat-trick in Melbourne. We’ll see. Certainly, as he recounted at a press conference, he hasn’t forgotten the first time he saw the Serbian champion, ten years ago: “I was 14, wearing a blue tracksuit top and with long hair. He was training in Monte Carlo and that’s where I played my first match against him: I was happy just to be on court.”

Meanwhile, here at Wimbledon, it’s time for Jasmine Paolini’s quarter-final (against Marta Kostjuk) and Flavio Cobolli’s quarter-final (against Arthur Fery), on Wednesday on Centre Court, starting at 14:30 Italian time.