By Pritha Sarkar
LONDON (Reuters) -Italian Jannik Sinner enjoyed a night to remember on his Centre Court debut as he toppled fifth seed Carlos Alcaraz with a barnstorming 6-1 6-4 6-7(8) 6-3 win in a battle of the young-guns to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals for the first time.
On a day when Wimbledon’s most famous stage celebrated its centenary, the two youngest players left in the men’s draw gave a glimpse of the future with some breathtaking shotmaking that earned them a standing ovation from 15,000 hollering fans.
However, during the first two sets there was little indication of the spellbinding drama that would end up unfolding on Centre Court.
The highly-rated Alcaraz, who has won a Tour-leading four titles this year, was sucked into a Sinner whirlwind as he lost seven games in a row from 1-1 in the first set.
The 19-year-old Spaniard recovered from that setback to deny Sinner two match points in the third-set tiebreak before three more went begging with Alcaraz serving at 5-2 down in the fourth.
But Sinner withstood the barrage of belting winners to finally book his place in the last eight at his sixth attempt when Alcaraz rolled a forehand into the net.
“Carlos is a very tough opponent and a very nice person so it’s always a huge pleasure to play him with such a great crowd and on a special day with 100 years of Centre Court – it’s just amazing,” said Sinner, who will next face either six-time champion Novak Djokovic or Dutch wildcard Tim van Rijthoven.
“It’s tough when you have match point and you still have to play – I tried my best, it’s part of the game, part of tennis.
“I’m very happy how I reacted in the beginning of the fourth because I was struggling but I’m very happy to be in the next round and hopefully I can play some good tennis there.”
(Reporting by Pritha Sarkar; editing by Ken Ferris)
