Published: 2025-07-06 09:36:42 | Views: 18
As well as Jannik Sinner is playing at Wimbledon, he doesn't appear to need much in the way of help. Still, he got some Saturday when his opponent, Pedro Martinez, was dealing with a problematic shoulder and often put in first serves at so-so speeds.
The No. 1-ranked Sinner has dropped a total of 17 games so far, made his way to the fourth round for the seventh consecutive Grand Slam tournament — he's collected three such trophies in that span — and never was truly in trouble during a 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 victory over No. 52 Martinez.
"We all saw that he was struggling," Sinner said, then noted about his own form: "First week couldn't have gone better."
There's been zero sign of any sort of inability to move past last month's French Open final, which Sinner lost to Carlos Alcaraz in five sets despite taking the first two and holding three championship points.
Against Martinez, Sinner — who returned in May from a three-month doping suspension — went up 5-0 after 20 minutes. During that stretch of 29 points, Martinez managed just one winner, while Sinner accumulated 10.
That's when Martinez took a medical timeout, and a trainer massaged the back of his right shoulder. The Spaniard was delivering first serves as slow as 76 mph, compared with Sinner's high of 133 mph.
That aspect of Martinez's game improved incrementally, but the only, ever-so-brief, moment of intrigue at Centre Court came in the second set, about 75 minutes in, with Sinner up a break and serving at 4-3. That's where Martinez managed to accrue his first four break points of the match.
Sinner stayed as calm as can be — "I don't think Sinner's changed expressions once in this match," John McEnroe observed on BBC's telecast — and erased all four of those chances, held for 5-3, then broke to end the set.
Soon enough, Sinner — twice an Australian Open champion, once a U.S. Open champion and a 2023 semifinalist at Wimbledon — was heading into a contest Monday against Grigor Dimitrov or Sebastian Ofner, whose match was delayed by rain in the second set.
Ottawa's Gabriela Dabrowski and Croatia's Nikola Mektic fell 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 to American Robert Galloway and Indonesia's Aldila Sutjiadi in second-round mixed doubles tennis action at Wimbledon on Saturday.
Dabrowski and Mektic, the fifth seeds, fired six aces to four double faults and won 61 per cent of their first-serve points.
They also broke on three of their seven opportunities.
Galloway and Sutjiadi had three aces to eight double faults and won 66 per cent first-serve points.
They broke on four of five chances in the one-hour, 43-minute match.
Dabrowski is the lone Canadian left at Wimbledon, and is set to compete in round of 16 action along with New Zealand's Erin Routliffe on Monday against Hungary's Fanny Stollar and Russia's Irina Khromacheva.
Defending Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova lost to No. 10 seed Emma Navarro 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the third round on Saturday, extending a recent run of one-and-done winners at the All England Club.
Krejcikova faded in the third set, getting her blood pressure checked at the changeover after Navarro broke her to lead 3-2 at No. 1 Court. Krejcikova ate a banana and drank liquids during the medical check, while Navarro walked to her guest box and spoke to her coach during the break in action.
When play resumed, Krejcikova still appeared to be in distress, often leaning over and placing her hands on her knees between points.
Still, she managed to break right back to 3-all, before Navarro broke yet again and then held to lead 5-3. Two games later, it was over.
Most points were decided by what Krejcikova did. That's how she ended up with 34 winners — 21 more than Navarro — and 53 unforced errors. Remarkably, Navarro finished with just 11 unforced errors.
Novak Djokovic became just the third player in Wimbledon history to reach 100 victories — after Martina Navratilova and Roger Federer — with his 6-3, 6-0, 6-4 win in the third round over Miomir Kecmanovic on Saturday.
Djokovic, who has won seven of his 24 Grand Slam titles at the All England Club, took control by winning nine consecutive games from 3-3 in the first set on Centre Court against his Serbian compatriot en route to his latest milestone.
The 38-year-old Djokovic, playing in his 20th Wimbledon tournament, will next face No. 11 Alex de Minaur for a spot in the quarterfinals.
Navratilova, a nine-time Wimbledon singles champion, amassed 120 singles victories. Eight-time champion Federer reached 105 singles wins.
Djokovic made just eight unforced errors through two sets before Kecmanovic made him work for the victory in the third.
No. 11 Elena Rybakina, the 2022 champion, was ousted in the third round by No. 23 Clara Tauson by a 7-6 (6), 6-3 score, yet another exit from a high seed.
No. 7 Mirra Andreeva, an 18-year-old Russian, moved into Week 2 with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Hailey Baptiste of the United States. Andreeva will face defending champion Barbora Krejcikova or Emma Navarro next.
Another fourth-round matchup was set up when No. 19 Liudmila Samsonova and Jessica Bouzas Maneiro advanced. Bouzas Maneiro, who defeated 2023 champion Marketa Vondrousova in last year's first round, was a 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 winner over Dayana Yastremska, who eliminated No. 2 Coco Gauff in this year's first round.
No. 22 Flavio Cobolli earned his debut trip to a major's round of 16 by defeating No. 15 Jakub Mensik 6-2, 6-4, 6-2.
No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, coming off a riveting win against Emma Raducanu, returns to Centre Court to face No. 24 Elise Mertens as the fourth round begins.
Sunday's last scheduled match in the main stadium features two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz against No. 14 Andrey Rublev.
Over at No. 1 Court, 2024 U.S. Open runner-up Taylor Fritz of the United States, the No. 5 seed, begins play at 1 p.m. local time (8 a.m. ET) against unseeded Jordan Thompson of Australia.
Dabrowski and New Zealand partner Erin Routliffe will play their third round of the women's doubles draw on Sunday.
The No. 2 seeds are looking to add a second Grand Slam title after winning the 2023 U.S. Open. Routliffe, who grew up near Toronto and lives in Montreal, represents her native New Zealand internationally.
The duo also captured the WTA Finals title in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, last November.