Jannik Sinner retained his Wimbledon title by beating Alexander Zverev 6-7(7) 7-6(2) 6-3 6-4 in the final on Sunday to claim his fifth Grand Slam crown and extend his dominance over the German to 10 straight victories.
The win placed Sinner in rare company as the 10th man in the professional era to successfully defend the title, strengthening his credentials as one of the dominant players of his generation while he chases down big rival Carlos Alcaraz’s seven majors.
Both finalists slugged it out for 12 games in a high-octane first set on a warm and windy afternoon, before Zverev moved up a gear and hit a powerful forehand winner to clinch a gripping tiebreak, yelling and crouching down in celebration.
The clean ball-striking continued but Zverev began to show signs of frustration late in the second set, where a much more animated Sinner gained the upper hand in the tiebreak and went on to level the contest at one set apiece.
Zverev brought up his first break point midway through the third set after more than 2-1/2 hours, but slipped and fell to the ground after being wrong-footed by a Sinner drop shot.
With Zverev crying out in agony, the Centre Court crowd gasped when he rolled onto his back clutching his right knee.
The second seed dusted himself off and carried on but was left seething when Sinner pounced in the next game to break for a 5-3 lead, slamming his racket to the floor, and soon found himself trailing the Italian two-sets-to-one after nearly three hours of battle.
Sinner broke again for a 4-3 advantage in the fourth set as Zverev’s level briefly dipped, and the 24-year-old held firm in an entertaining spell to complete the victory and then collapsed to the threadbare turf in celebration.
• Chinese and French pair Guo Hanyu and Kristina Mladenovic outwitted second seeds Gabriela Dabrowski and Luisa Stefani 6-3 7-5 to win the Wimbledon women’s doubles title on Sunday for their first major triumph together.
Tenth seeds Guo and Mladenovic were quick to read Dabrowski’s early lobs and raced to a 5-0 lead. The Canadian-Brazilian pairing of Dabrowski and Stefani fought back to win the next three games, but it was not enough to save the set.
The second seeds looked much more in their element as they pushed for a break in the second set, but their opponents saved two break points as Mladenovic’s strong forehands across the court helped them stay even at 5-5.
Guo’s backhand returns from the net set up a break point in the 11th game, which the Chinese 28-year-old, playing in her first major final, won with a cross-court backhand at a tight angle.
Serving for the championship, a clinical Mladenovic secured victory with a forehand that her opponents could only lash back into the net.
• World number one pair Henry Patten and Harri Heliovaara claimed their third major together as they beat Mate Pavic and Marcelo Arevalo 7-6(4) 7-6(3) to win the men’s doubles title at Wimbledon for the second time on Saturday.
The match did not produce a single break point as the servers held their ground to force a tiebreak in both sets, where Briton Patten and his Finnish partner Heliovaara prevailed. — Reuters
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