Jannik Sinner defeated German Jan Lennard Struff in three sets and advanced to the semifinals at Wimbledon , where he defended last year's title. The South Tyrolean won 7-5, 7-6, 6-3 in just over two and a half hours of play .
Jannik's performance wasn't perfect, peppered with a few too many unforced errors against an exceptional server like the German, who attacked at every opportunity to avoid being trapped in baseline rallies. But Sinner was once again, as is often the case not only in this tournament, extraordinary on serve and in key moments of the match.
The first set went to 5-all without any break points, with Jannik conceding more on his service serves. But in the eleventh game, when Struff slowed down with his first serves and Sinner increased his concentration, the decisive break arrived, secured with a splendid forehand return winner at 30-40, with which the world number one sprinted towards the set.
In the second set, Sinner seemed to be on fire when he broke his opponent's serve in the third game, but the break came immediately. And so it went on serve until 6-all, with the South Tyrolean appearing to be struggling and even having to cancel out a set point with a first serve winner. In the tiebreak, Jannik was perfect, hitting five first serve winners (or aces) on six serves, and a minibreak was enough to win 7-4 .
In the third set, Sinner squanders a breakpoint in the fourth game, and Struff recovers from 0-30 down in the sixth. But a break is in the air, arriving in the eighth game with the South Tyrolean pushing his opponent from side to side on the point that gives him a 5-3 lead until a final forehand, which Struff barely reaches but fails to put the ball in. The victory is clear, the next game is a formality, and the world number one closes out 6-3.
On Friday, the semi-final, in which Jannik will face the infinite Novak Djokovic, who is 39 years old won a 5 and a quarter hour battle against Felix Auger Aliassime: 7-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-7, 7-6 .
