“A lot of sacrifices for this moment” – Jannik Sinner defeats Safiullin, reaches his maiden Grand Slam semi-final at Wimbledon

Jannik Sinner’s long awaited Grand Slam breakthrough has come on the hallowed lawns of the All England Club, where the Italian defeated Roman Safiullin of Russia to reach his first major semi-final, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 on No.1 Court.

The Italian becomes the third man from his country to reach the last four at Wimbledon after fighting off an inspired effort from the world No 92 – he will face either seven-time champion Novak Djokovic or Andrey Rublev next.

“It means a lot to me,” Sinner told the crowd after improving to 1-4 in major quarter-finals. “We put a lot of work in – many, many hours. Also, of course, a lot of sacrifices for this moment. It means a lot.”

A letdown in the second set, otherwise perfect

There was a brief lull in the second set, which allowed the 25-year-old Russian to make this hard-hitting contest interesting on the scoreboard, but for the most part it was a pitch-perfect performance from the 21-year-old that was never really in doubt.

Sinner won 43 of 48 first-serve points, cracked 36 winners and committed just 20 unforced errors as he improved to 35-14 lifetime at the majors and 9-2 at Wimbledon.

Sinner may have lost the plot momentarily in the second set, with Safiullin breaking the Italian’s serve twice as Sinner made only 48 percent of his first-serves, but he quickly recaptured his mojo to march through sets three and four.

The No 8 seed admitted that he needs to work on eliminating mental letdowns after the match.

“For sure it’s obviously tough, I was a break up in the second set then I got down mentally a little bit,” he said. “This is the part where we are working on a lot and obviously I am very happy with how I reacted in the next couple of sets.”

Full credit to Safiullin, who had never been past the second round at a major and was making his Wimbledon main draw debut, for producing crisp, attacking tennis that made the contest pleasing for the fans to behold.

The Russian, playing in just his fifth Grand Slam main draw, is the lowest man to reach the quarter-finals at Wimbledon since 144th-ranked Nick Kyrgios turned the trick in 2014.

“[Safiullin] is a very tough player to play against, we played each other one year ago in the ATP Cup, it was a very tough match and I wish him all the best for this season because I think he’s gonna make a very good one,” Sinner said.

Youngest – for a day, at least

Young players are making significant progress at Wimbledon this year on the men’s side, with top-seeded 20-year-old Carlos Alcaraz (bidding to become the youngest champion since Boris Becker in 1985) set to square off with 20-year-old Holger Rune in the youngest men’s singles quarter-final in Wimbledon history.

A day ahead of those two on the schedule, Sinner will temporarily enjoy his status as the youngest men’s singles semi-finalist at Wimbledon since Rafael Nadal in 2007.

It’s an honour that Sinner will gladly enjoy for the next 24 hours as he relishes his biggest victory at the Grand Slams to date.

“It’s gonna change,” he said with a laugh, when informed of his temporary milestone, before adding: “I’m still young and I’m still happy so give me at least this feeling for one night.”

Jannik Sinner is the youngest man to reach the semi-finals since 2007…

The youngest for a day anyway 😉#Wimbledon | @janniksin pic.twitter.com/RT2unB60s6

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 11, 2023

The 21-year-old Italian beat Argentinian Juan Manuel Cerundolo (6-2, 6-2, 6-2), Argentinian Diego Schwartzman (7-5, 6-1, 6-2), Frenchman Quentin Halys (3-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4) and Colombian Daniel Elahi Galan (7-6 (4), 6-4, 6-3) earlier in the tournament.

In the previous rounds of The Championships, Safiullin, ranked No 92, won against Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut, the No 20 seed (2-6, 7-6 (7), 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-5), Frenchman Corentin Moutet (7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (4)), Argentinian Guido Pella (7-6 (1), 6-4, 6-0) and Canadian Denis Shapovalov, the No 26 seed (3-6, 6-3, 6-1, 6-3).

London (Grand Slam), other last eight results (All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, grass, GBP 16.077.000, most recent results first):

• Carlos Alcaraz vs. Holger Rune
• Daniil Medvedev vs. Christopher Eubanks
• Andrey Rublev vs. Novak Djokovic: tuesday

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