Sinner ends Struff's fairytale run to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals
The world No. 1 and defending champion beat Struff, the oldest first-time Grand Slam quarter-finalist of the Open Era, 7-5, 7-6(4), 6-3 to reach the last four for the third time.
Jannik Sinner is into the Wimbledon semi-finals. The defending champion and world No. 1 beat Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff 7-5, 7-6(4), 6-3 on No. 1 Court on Tuesday, a clinical if unspectacular quarter-final that took just over two and a half hours and carried him into the last four at the All England Club for the third time.
Struff, whose grass game has troubled Sinner before, kept the opening two sets tight. But the Italian leaned on a formidable serve, winning 85 percent of points behind it and striking 16 aces, and tightened as the match wore on: 22 unforced errors across the first two sets became just four in the third. He broke for the first time at 5-5 to steal the opener, edged the second-set tie-break, then broke again at 5-3 in the decider to serve it out.
The story on the other side of the net was remarkable in its own right. At 36, the world No. 74 Struff had become the oldest man in the Open Era to reach a first Grand Slam quarter-final, coming through a run of five-set battles, a straight-sets upset of eighth seed Daniil Medvedev, and a comeback from two sets down against Hubert Hurkacz, who retired hurt. He had now lost all eight career meetings with Sinner.
Sinner has now reached the Wimbledon last eight for a fifth straight year and has barely flickered in his title defence. He will face the winner of Novak Djokovic and Felix Auger-Aliassime in Friday's semi-final, one step closer to back-to-back crowns at SW19.
