Jannik Sinner seeks to continue his ongoing dominance of Daniil Medvedev when both players tussle in Tuesday's Wimbledon quarter-final.
The ATP Tour's most consistent player in 2024 has come through his last two rounds in straight sets and aims to reach the semi-finals of another event against an opponent who desperately seeks to end a wretched five-match losing run against the top seed.
Match preview
Backed to come through the test Ben Shelton posed in four, Sinner went one better in Sunday's fourth round to beat the American in straight sets 6-2, 6-4, 7-6(9).
The Italian's level dipped in the latter as his opponent broke in the second game and led 3-1 and 4-1 before Sinner rallied for the break-back in the set's seventh game to force the nervy tie-break that followed.
The upshot of that last-16 victory means the top-ranked seed is into a third straight quarter-final at the All England Club, becoming the fifth player aged below 23 to achieve the feat in the past four decades to emulate Boris Becker (1988-90), Pete Sampras (1992-94), Andy Roddick (2003-2005) and Rafael Nadal (2006-08).
Having made last year's semi-final, the world No. 1 seeks a repeat as he aims to continue an unbeaten grass-court sequence that began with his successful run at the event in Halle weeks back.
Sinner has made it to every semi-final this year, except in Madrid where a hip issue forced him to withdraw, and he seeks to continue that run by beating his Russian opponent.
Medvedev's problem-solving adeptness has hit a brick wall against Sinner, with the Russian unable to get the better of the 22-year-old.
The 2021 US Open champion's previous Wimbledon struggles appear to be far behind him after advancing to consecutive quarter-finals at the Championships despite failing to go beyond the fourth round in his first four tries.
He reached the semis last year but faced the eventual champion, Carlos Alcaraz, losing in straight sets to the precocious Spaniard, and he faces another daunting match against an in-form Sinner.
This year's run is atypical of the No. 5 seed, who is yet to go the distance in any round, winning his tournament opener in three sets, being forced to four in rounds two and three before in-form Grigor Dimitrov retired eight games into Sunday's last-16 match.
The Bulgarian's knee issue cost fans a potential five-setter on Sunday, and fresher-than-usual Medvedev hopes to take advantage as he seeks an end to a pitiful losing run against his quarter-final opponent.
Tournament so far
Jannik Sinner:
First round: vs. Yannick Hanfmann 6-3 6-4 3-6 6-3
Second round: vs. Matteo Berrettini 7-6[3] 7-6[4] 2-6 7-6[4]
Third round: vs. Miomir Kecmanovic 6-1 6-4 6-2
Round of 16: vs. Ben Shelton 6-2 6-4 7-6[9]
Daniil Medvedev:
First round: vs. Aleksandar Kovacevic 6-3 6-4 6-2
Second round: vs. Alexandre Muller 6-7[3] 7-6[4] 6-4 7-5
Third round: vs. Jan-Lennard Struff 6-1 6-3 4-6 7-6[3]
Round of 16: vs. Grigor Dimitrov 5-3 ret
Head To Head
Marseille (2020) - Round of 16: Medvedev 1-6 6-1 6-2
Marseille (2021) - Quarter-final: Medvedev 6-2 6-4
ATP Finals (2021) - Round Robin: Medvedev 6-0 6-7(5) 7-6(8)
Vienna (2022) - Quarter-final: Medvedev 6-4 6-2
Rotterdam (2023) - Final: Medvedev 5-7 6-2 6-2
Miami Masters (2023) - Final: Medvedev 7-5 6-3
Beijing (2023) - Final: Sinner 7-6(2) 7-6(2)
Vienna (2023) - Final: Sinner 7-6(7) 4-6 6-3
ATP Finals (2023) - Semi-final: Sinner 6-3 6-7(4) 6-1
Australian Open (2024) - Final: Sinner 3-6 3-6 6-4 6-4 6-3
Miami Masters (2024) - Semi-final: Sinner 6-1 6-2
While Medvedev leads the head-to-head 6-5, that statistic does not tell the full story of the Italian recovering from losing his first six meetings against his Russian opponent on Tour to notch five consecutive victories.
The recent two defeats to Sinner have especially hurt, with the No. 5 seed losing the Australian Open final having been two sets ahead, while their Miami Masters 1000 match-up was dominated by the Italian after Medvedev's change of tactic to be uncharacteristically attacking backfired.
Sinner aims to level their head-to-head in their first-ever meeting on grass.
We say: Sinner to win in four sets
Despite Medvedev abnormally spending far less time on court than is usually the case en route to this last-eight clash, Sinner's more attacking nature should play to his advantage against the consecutive Wimbledon quarter-finalist.
Unless there is a significant drop-off by the No. 1 seed on Tuesday, another semi-final is anticipated at the Russian's expense.
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