Defeating Ben Shelton in today’s fourth round Wimbledon clash has made Jannik Sinner the first Italian male tennis player to get to the quarterfinals of the Wimbledon Championships three times. The Italian has now reached the quarterfinals of every tournament he’s competed in during 2024.
It’s also his 42nd victory in 45 matches in 2024. It puts him on an extremely short list occupied only by members of the “Big Three,” as one of four players to have won 42 of their opening 45 matches in a single season since 2000. If he’s successful in winning the Wimbledon Championships, he’d be the first player outside the Big Three of Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, and Rafael Nadal to win two Grand Slam titles in one year since Andre Agassi in 1999.
Jannik Sinner Defeats the USA’s Golden Boy
The Jannik Sinner-Ben Shelton fourth round Wimbledon clash started as a clash of young heavy forehand hitters. Everything changed in the fifth game of the set. From there, Jannik Sinner strolled to a comfortable 6-2 first-set win after he stole two breaks off Shelton’s serve.
The Italian restricted the American to not having a single breakpoint on his serve all through the set. Shelton didn’t look like a contender to the world No. 1 who had the set wrapped up in just 29 minutes. Ben Shelton had needed to go the distance in all three of his matches at Wimbledon before the Sinner clash.
Sinner stole a quick break of Shelton’s serve in the early stages of the second set and began thundering his forehand from that point to a 6-4 second set win. He dominated the American at the net, winning six of the nine points he contested at the net. Shelton won six points from aces but still couldn’t register a single break point opportunity in the second set.
Ben Shelton had his first break point of the match in the second game of the third set. He eventually sealed the break of Sinner’s serve after a heated rally ended with a Sinner forehand hitting the net. Jannik Sinner broke back eventually and had to save a set point on his way to forcing a tiebreak to decide the third set.
Both players played to a remarkable 10-9 score line in the tiebreak with Jannik Sinner holding the match point opportunity on Ben Shelton’s serve. Before then, Ben had gifted Sinner three points to save set points. He then went on to save one match point before a Shelton double fault sealed the victory for Jannik Sinner.
This was Shelton’s fourth double fault of the match. Sinner didn’t hit a single double fault on Sunday.
Can Sinner Go All The Way?
After a walkover from Grigor Dimitrov handed Daniil Medvedev a win in their fourth round encounter, Jannik Sinner will face the Russian in the quarterfinals of the Wimbledon Championships. The Italian is looking forward to the clash, hoping to draw from a wealth of history in the head-to-head between them, to defeat the Russian.
“I still think every match has its own story. I felt like in Australia we had two different matches in one match. It’s gonna be tough for both of us. I practiced with him earlier in the week. He was playing really well. It’s gonna be tough. I’m looking forward to it again. It’s a big challenge for me. This is what I practice for. Hopefully, it’s gonna be a good match.”
If Jannik Sinner defeats the world No. 5, he will face Carlos Alcaraz in the sixth semifinal in succession. Alcaraz has won the last two meetings between the two including the semifinal of the 2024 French Open. In 2024 alone, Jannik Sinner has lost twice to Carlos Alcaraz in the same number of matches.
Stefano Tsitsipas is the only other player on tour that has defeated the Italian in 2024. He has won seven matches against players who were ranked in the top 10 of the ATP rankings at the time of their meeting, including one against Novak Djokovic who was No. 1 in the world at the time, and two against Daniil Medvedev who was third and fourth respectively.
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