Wimbledon: Sinner comes through testing all-Italian battle against Berrettini to reach third round

Top seed Jannik Sinner edged out Matteo Berrettini 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4), 2-6, 7-6 (4) to reach the third round of Wimbledon at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.

In a late-night, all-Italian clash between two good friends, crowds under the roof on Centre Court were treated to a close, albeit serve-dominated, encounter.

There was little to separate the pair across the first two sets, with a tiebreak required in each. But Sinner’s form and greater experience showed in those two most pivotal moments, easing to a two-set lead despite Berrettini barely putting a foot wrong on serve.

With the curfew cut-off time of 11PM approaching, Berrettini put in an excellent display in the third set, breaking twice to halve the deficit and take Sinner into an unwanted fourth.

It was another close stanza, with the players exchanging breaks before a third tiebreak was required. Berrettini knew that if he won it, the match would almost certainly have been suspended overnight and resumed as a one-set shoot-out tomorrow.

However, Sinner made it three breakers from three as he again tightened up his game when it mattered most to knock out his compatriot and return to the third round.

“First of all, we are very good friends. We play Davis Cup together, sometimes practise together. So you know, it’s obviously very tough that we had to face in the second round and in such an important tournament,” Sinner said in his on-court interview.

“But today was a very high-level match. I think we both played really well. Three tiebreaks, I got sometimes a bit lucky, but I take it for today. I want to thank everyone for the support, it’s been amazing. It’s quite late, so yeah, thanks for staying.

“I think we spoke with the team quite a lot – I knew that I had to raise my level today if I wanted to play even level with him. He played final here, he’s a grass court specialist. So I was looking forward to it, I knew it would be a challenge to come on court.

“I’m very happy with how I handled the situation. There were some little ups and downs which is normal in four or five set, so yeah, I can be happy. Let’s see what’s coming in the next round.”

Sinner, ranked No 1, will play Serb Miomir Kecmanovic next.

In the previous round of The Championships, Jannik Sinner defeated German Yannick Hanfmann (6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3).

Berrettini, ranked No 59, won against Hungarian Marton Fucsovics (7-6 (3), 6-2, 3-6, 6-1) in the previous round of The Championships.

London (Grand Slam), other second-round results (All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, grass, GBP 50.000.000, most recent results first):

• Marcos Giron vs. Alexander Zverev
• Emil Ruusuvuori vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas
• Quentin Halys vs. Karen Khachanov
• Holger Rune vs. Thiago Seyboth Wild
• Thanasi Kokkinakis vs. Lucas Pouille
• Jack Draper vs. Cameron Norrie
• Taylor Fritz vs. Arthur Rinderknech
• Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard vs. Yoshihito Nishioka
• Jacob Fearnley vs. Novak Djokovic
• Stan Wawrinka vs. Gael Monfils
• Tomas Martin Etcheverry vs. Alexei Popyrin
• Tomas Machac vs. Roman Safiullin
• Flavio Cobolli vs. Alejandro Tabilo
• Luciano Darderi vs. Lorenzo Musetti
• Grigor Dimitrov vs. Juncheng Shang
• Lloyd Harris vs. Ben Shelton
• Denis Shapovalov vs. Daniel Altmaier
• Jaume Munar vs. Alex De Minaur
• Hubert Hurkacz vs. Arthur Fils
• Francisco Comesana vs. Adam Walton
• Jan-Lennard Struff beat Zhizhen Zhang (32): 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (1), 7-6 (8)
• Miomir Kecmanovic beat Tallon Griekspoor (27): 4-6, 7-6 (7), 1-6, 6-2, 6-3
• Tommy Paul (12) beat Otto Virtanen (Q): 4-6, 6-3, 5-7, 7-5, 6-4
• Roberto Bautista Agut beat Lorenzo Sonego: 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
• Alexander Bublik (23) beat Arthur Cazaux: 6-4, 7-6 (1), 6-4
• Carlos Alcaraz (3) beat Aleksandar Vukic: 7-6 (5), 6-2, 6-2
• Daniil Medvedev (5) beat Alexandre Muller: 6-7 (3), 7-6 (4), 6-4, 7-5
• Ugo Humbert (16) beat Botic van de Zandschulp: 7-6 (9), 6-1, 6-3
• Brandon Nakashima beat Jordan Thompson: 6-3, 6-2, 6-2
• Frances Tiafoe (29) beat Borna Coric: 7-6 (5), 6-1, 6-3
• Fabio Fognini beat Casper Ruud (8): 6-4, 7-5, 6-7 (1), 6-3