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World number one, Jannik Sinner, alleviated concerns about his pre-match injury by defeating Ben Shelton in straight sets on Wednesday, earning a place in the Wimbledon semi-finals against either Novak Djokovic or Flavio Cobolli.
Sinner donned a protective sleeve on his right arm during his 7-6 (7/2), 6-4, 6-4 quarter-final win over the tenth seed Shelton, which lasted two hours and 19 minutes.
The 23-year-old, who sustained an injury in the earlier round against Grigor Dimitrov, persevered through the pain to reach his second semi-final at the All England Club.
After the match on Court One, Sinner, who grimaced while returning one of Shelton’s serves in the second set, expressed optimism about his recovery.
“You know, when you are in a match with a lot of tension, you try to not think about it,” said the Italian when asked about his injury.
“It has improved a lot from yesterday to today. Yesterday, my day was very short on the practice court, 20 minutes with the coaches only.”
But he added, “This is no excuse. There is no better stage to play tennis, and I think I showed this today. Again, you know, the atmosphere helps me so much, so thank you so much for the support.”
There had been concerns that the top seed might withdraw from the tournament after he fell behind early in his fourth-round match against Dimitrov.
The Italian top seed was two sets down and facing an unexpected exit when Dimitrov injured a pectoral muscle during a serve and had to retire.
Sinner, a three-time Grand Slam champion, reduced his training load on Tuesday and underwent a scan to assess his injury.
The world number one, who has yet to reach a Wimbledon final, has made history as the first Italian man to get to the last four at the All England Club multiple times, following his previous semi-final run in 2023.
Having lost to Carlos Alcaraz in a dramatic French Open final in June, where he relinquished a two-set advantage and missed three championship points, Sinner has shown renewed vigour in his first three matches at Wimbledon.
He allowed just 17 games against him, matching a 53-year-old record for the fewest games dropped leading up to the Wimbledon men’s last 16.
Shelton had already surpassed his father and coach Bryan, who made it to the last 16 at Wimbledon 31 years ago, but he was unable to contend with Sinner, who aims for his fourth consecutive Grand Slam final.
The Italian fought through a challenging first set that lasted 52 minutes. Shelton also faced difficulties, as the 22-year-old had to have his left ankle re-taped late in the first set.
Sinner broke Shelton’s serve in the 10th game of the second set to take a two-set lead. The third set was tightly contested, with both players holding serve until the tenth game when Shelton stumbled.
Sinner required three match points but celebrated when the American’s shot went long.
