ATP Tour

Sinner survives Kecmanovic, scary fall in dramatic Wimbledon five setter

Jannik Sinner overcame both an untidy start and a resilient opponent to launch his Wimbledon title defence with a hard-fought victory on Monday.

Playing his first match since his shock second-round defeat at Roland Garros, Sinner returned to winning ways by battling past Miomir Kecmanovic 4-6, 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-2, 6-3 at the All England Club. Despite spraying 52 unforced errors and briefly raising hopes of a Centre Court upset, the Italian dug deep to outlast the resilient Kecmanovic after three hours, 30 minutes.

“It’s such a huge honour to start the tournament,” Sinner said in his on-court interview. “I was a little tight in the beginning. I didn’t play my very best, but I tried to get into it. It was my first official match on grass. I’m happy that I turned it around. The third set was a very tough one to swallow…"

Kecmanovic produced an inspired display in the third set that featured an early contender for point of the tournament. Trailing 5/6 in the tie-break, the Serbian stretched Sinner from corner to corner before charging the net, forcing the Italian to dive to the turf and bringing the Centre Court crowd to its feet.

It was the second time in the set that Sinner had ended up on the grass. At 2-2, the 24-year-old suffered a worrying slip, landing awkwardly with his knees bent inwards. The fall drew gasps from the packed stands, but Sinner avoided the need for a medical timeout and quickly resumed play.

_{^{Sinner fell in the third set against Miomir Kecmanovic. Photo: Getty Images}}

Having cut down on his unforced errors to force a deciding set, Sinner seized control of the match and raced to victory, bringing a convincing finish to a contest that had been anything but straightforward through the opening three sets.

After surviving a stern opening test, with David Beckham among those watching from the Royal Box, Sinner booked a second-round meeting with Portugal's Nuno Borges.

The No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, Sinner has now won 94 matches at major tournaments, equalling Nicola Pietrangeli's all-time record for the most among Italians. Sinner also leads Kecmanovic 5-0 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

Sinner was avoiding becoming just the third defending men's champion to lose in the first round at Wimbledon, but he fought back with a business-like performance that drew parallels with Carlos Alcaraz's opening match last year. The Spaniard overcame Fabio Fognini in a nervy five-set clash to get his title defence underway before surging to the final, where he was stopped by Sinner.

Sinner's seeded quarter-final opponent Daniil Medvedev also made a winning start, moving past 2017 finalist Marin Cilic 6-1, 6-2, 6-4. The two-time Wimbledon semi-finalist will next face Spaniard Daniel Merida.