The no World No. 1 Jannik Sinner left the court in the third set to receive treatment, which allowed him to bounce back in the fourth set before crashing out again in the fifth, falling 6-7 (7), 6-4, 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-3 to Daniil Medvedev in the Wimbledon quarter-finals on Tuesday.
“It’s always difficult, because you want to play more points to make him suffer — in a good way — but at the same time, you know that at some point he’s going to say, ‘OK, I can’t run anymore, so I’m going to hit as hard as I can.’ And that’s what he did,” said Medvedev, who will face defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinals for the second straight year.
Alcaraz (no 3) took a while to get going in his quarter-final, but once he did he was dominant, en route to a 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 victory over American Tommy Paul (no 12). The 21-year-old Spaniard, who triumphed at Roland Garros last month, will be looking to get his hands on a fourth major title.
It was unclear what was wrong with Sinner as a sports therapist took his pulse on the sidelines before he retreated to the locker room. The 22-year-old Italian returned to the game 10 minutes later but was held offside on the next play.
After being broken by Medvedev, who was the 2021 US Open champion, in the third set, Sinner sought the intervention of a sports therapist while trailing 2-1. After getting into a tizzy while talking to him, he left for the locker room.
At a change of ends later in the match, Sinner put a towel over his head. He then found his usual fire, including his forehand, to force a fifth set — the 36th.e of that fortnight and the most for any Grand Slam tournament in the modern era — but Sinner ultimately did not recover.
“He wasn’t feeling so good… And suddenly he was playing better,” Medvedev said.
Medvedev began to find space to hit more winners — 13 in the fifth set — and broke Sinner to take a 3-1, then a 4-1 lead en route to the semi-finals at the All England Club.
Sinner was a semifinalist at Wimbledon last year and was riding a nine-game winning streak heading into Tuesday’s match, including a title at the grass-court tournament in Halle, Germany, last month. He also became ao 1 in the world in place of Novak Djokovic, on June 10, after reaching the semi-finals at Roland-Garros.
His elimination follows that of the no 1 Iga Swiatek, in the third round. This is the first time since 2018 that both favorites have been eliminated before the semi-finals. That year, Roger Federer lost in the quarter-finals, while Simona Halep lost in the third round.
Medvedev had lost his last five meetings with Sinner, including the Australian Open final in January. That day, Medvedev won the first two sets, but saw Sinner come from behind to win his first Grand Slam title in five sets, but Sinner came from behind to win his first Grand Slam title in five sets.
The result improved Medvedev’s record to 1-5 in major tournament finals. He is now one win away from reaching his seventh final.
Vekic to face Paolini in semi-finals
Donna Vekic fought hard to win the most important match of her career.
Vekic, who has been slowed down in recent years by injuries, reached the semi-finals of a major tournament for the first time, at 43e presence, beating qualifier Lulu Sun 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 at Wimbledon on Tuesday. She will face French Open finalist Jasmine Paolini, who ousted American Emma Navarro 6-2, 6-1 after an hour of play.
Navarro had successively eliminated four-time career major champion Naomi Osaka and reigning U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff en route to her showdown with Paolini.
“I felt like I was dying in the first two rounds, but I kept giving it my all and hoped I would have a chance. [de revenir dans le match] and it happened,” Vekic said after his victory, on the pitch.
The 28-year-old Croatian has considered announcing her retirement on several occasions – notably ahead of the French Open in May.
“I didn’t have the energy or motivation to train and push myself because I felt like I had been giving my all to tennis in the last few months and wasn’t getting any meaningful results,” she explained.
“But I’m in the semi-finals,” she continued. “In tennis, as in life, things can change very quickly.”
Vekic is the second Croatian to reach the semi-finals at the All England Club, after Mirjana Lucic in 1999.
Sun, 23, who played her university tennis at Texas, was making her debut at the prestigious tournament. She became the first modern New Zealander to reach the quarter-finals at Wimbledon.
“It was a really tough match, she played incredibly well,” said Vekic, who underwent knee surgery in 2021. “She got the best out of me.”
While serving for the second set at 5-3, Vekic was broken after committing five double faults. She then broke her opponent’s serve in the next game to force a final set, which she dominated.
With Ken Maguire of the Associated Press