Wimbledon 2024 Men’s Day 7

Jannik Sinner crushed Ben Shelton as the American’s father looked on, with the top-seeded world No. 1 hammering out an efficient 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (9) move into the Wimbledon quarter-finals on Sunday.

The match was played safely under the roof of Court No. 1 on a second straight day of frequent rain interruptions which left play on outer courts in chaos.

Australian Open champion and Roland Garros semi-finalist Sinner, 22, was untroubled by the opponent coached by his former ATP competitor father who played the fourth round three decades ago, moving through in just over two hours.  

Sinner backed up his straight-set hammering of Shelton four month ago at Indian Wells; the American went out this time on a double-fault..

After sweeping the first two sets, Sinner had to struggle through a tiebreaker in the third, saving four set points for Shelton before earning his third successive Wimbledon quarter-final on his opponent’s costly mis-fire on serve. 

“That was a very tough match, especially in the third set,” Sinner said. “I had to save set points, these kind of matches can also be very long.

“I’m very happy to have closed it out in three sets. These are the kind of moments we work for, and I need to play the best that I can.”

Sinner’s victory kept him in the lead for season match wins, with 43, keeping him just ahead of Casper Ruud on 40.

Carlos Alcaraz held onto his chances of a title repeat against a new style of grass challenge as he managed a 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 win over the first left-hander he has ever played at the All England Club.

The third seed who won the championship a year ago spent nearly three hours in defeating France;s Ugo Humbert to reach the quarter-finals.

Alcaraz put away the opening two sets as he got a handle on Humbert’s lefty game, but needed to go four sets to advance.

The Spaniard set up a pair of match points with a drop shot and wrapped up proceedings with a serve winner on his first chance.

“It’s always tricky to play a lefty,” the winner said, ‘adding: “I played my first one on grass at Queen’s (last month).

“I felt great today, I played at a high level and tried not to think about anything but the match.”

The seed secured the second set on an athletic set point, where he did the splits and slipped but still managed to come good on the grass of Centre Court.

“I try to fight for every ball, every point, it doesn’t matter where I am. I want to show the opponent that I’m gonna be there.”

By reaching a Grand Slam quarter-final for the ninth time, the youngster levels with coach Juan Carlos Ferrero in joint-3rd place on the all-time list.

He is the fifth Spaniard to get this far here after Rafael Nadal, Feliciano Lopez, David Ferrer and Ferrero.

Main photo:- Roger Parker International Sports Fotos Ltd