Photo Source: Camera Sport
What a difference a day makes. Shrouded in doubts regarding his injured right elbow on Tuesday, Jannik Sinner cancelled his practice, instead opting for a light hit on the indoor courts, far from the cameras.
The 23-year-old also underwent an MRI to make sure that there was no structural damage done to the injury, suffered in the very first game of his match against Grigor Dimitrov when he fell in the back court and broke his fall with his extended arm.
Today, top-seeded Sinner showed up with a sleeve on the arm, but showed no visible issues as he hit all the high notes and cruised past Ben Shelton, managing big moments with poise as he recorded his 26th win in his last 27 Grand Slam matches, 7-6(2), 6-4, 6-4.
For Sinner, who improved to 18-4 lifetime at the Championships, there was some relief at having escaped a situation that could have been worse.
“Feelings are definitely different,” Sinner said, comparing today’s win to his abbreviated victory over Dimitrov, in which he advanced after the Bulgarian retired with a pectoral injury and a two sets to love lead.
Today’s contest could have been a lot closer, but Sinner was flawless at the business end of each set. After an opening set without any break points, he fell behind 2-0 in the tiebreak, then won the final seven points of the set to leave Shelton wondering what had just hit him.
The Italian saved a pair of break points in the opening game of the second set, and another in the eighth game, before ralling from 30-0 down to take the stanza with a break in the tenth game.
That pattern now established, Sinner didn’t face a break point in the third and when it was Shelton’s time to serve to stay alive at 4-5, the 22-year-old faltered again, surrendering on Sinner’s third match point with two hours and 19 minutes on the clock.
“Playing against him is so difficult,” Shelton said. “You have chances then he serves very well…”
Shelton did serve 14 aces as he connected on 80 percent of his first-serve points, but the match was won in the proverbial trenches as Sinner son 59 percent of his second-serve return points.
Sinner converted two of five break points, won 19 of 22 points at net and cracked 33 winners to 29 for Shelton.
More importantly, Sinner made only 17 unforced errors, while Shelton committed 38.
The loss was another reminder to Shelton that there is a lot of ground to make up between himself and the elite players on tour. He won his first career match against Sinner in 2023, but has lost the pair’s next six meetings in straight sets.