Sinner’s first time: in the semifinals at Wimbledon. Against Djokovic

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Jannik Sinner is in the semifinals of Wimbledon, aged 21: it is the first time in his career in a Grand Slam, and he is the third Italian in history to have achieved this milestone on London grass after Nicola Pietrangeli (1960) and Matteo Berrettini (2021 ). The Italian defeated the little-known Roman Safiullin, Russian number 92 in the world rankings, who reached the quarterfinals in this Wimbledon of surprises after beating Bautista Agut (seeded number 20) in the first round, and Shapovalov in the round of 16. The blue, number eight in the world, played with great attention – apart from a drop in the second set – against an opponent who had nothing to lose, and in the end he clearly prevailed 6-4, 3-6, 6- 2, 6-2. Nole Djokovic is now in the semifinals (who won with Rublev in four sets): a revenge, given that he eliminated him in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon last year.

The progress of the match

In the first set, which began cautiously with large reciprocal broadsides from the baseline, the balance was broken on all fours when Sinner “breaked” his opponent, moving up to 6-4. He then began the second set with ease, immediately breaking the Russian’s serve, on 1 all. Then, at 3-1 for him, something clicked, a moment of lack of concentration occurred, the fact is that Safiullin not only made the counter break but went on to win 6-3 by taking advantage of mistakes and bad choices. A set that lasted just 31 minutes. A passing phase, however, because the Italian returned attentive, point after point, while it was the turn of the other to suffer a conspicuous drop in the third set, which ended with the Russian in service who committed three double faults. At that point the match was downhill, the final 6-2 was without history; a result brought home thanks to the solid and providential service in critical moments (14 aces overall) and 43 points won in return (compared to 23 by Safiullin). In the end, for Sinner, under the eyes of the president of the Binaghi Federation sitting next to Filippo Volandri, the ovation from the public was great.

The women’s tournament

While waiting for the challenges between Medvedev-Eubanks and Alcaraz-Rune, it should be remembered that there are no shortage of surprises from these Championships in the women’s tournament: the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina conquered the semifinal by beating the world number 1 Iga Swiatek 7-5 , 6-7, 6-2, as well as Czech Marketa Vondrousova defeated Jessica Pegula (#4 seed) 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.