London, July 1 (IANS) Defending champion Jannik Sinner produced a much-improved display to move into the third round of Wimbledon, defeating Portugal’s Nuno Borges 7-6(4), 7-6(2), 6-4 on Centre Court and setting up a clash with American Jenson Brooksby.

After being pushed to five sets by Miomir Kecmanovic in his opening match, the World No. 1 showed a much stronger performance on Wednesday. He raised his game in the key moments, breaking back when Borges served for the second set at 5-4. He finished the match in two hours and 32 minutes.

This win was important beyond Wimbledon. It marked Sinner’s 95th Grand Slam main-draw win, moving him past Nicola Pietrangeli for the most Grand Slam match wins by an Italian player.

At 24 years old, he is also trying to make history at the All England Club. He aims to be only the 10th man in the Open Era to defend the Wimbledon title, two years after his rival Carlos Alcaraz achieved this.

Unlike his tough opener, Sinner appeared more at ease against the World No. 48. He ended the match with 47 winners and 30 unforced errors. Even though he briefly handed Borges a break in the third set with a shaky service game, the Italian had already taken control by breaking twice early in the set.

Sinner mentioned that he is still finding his rhythm on grass since he chose not to play a warm-up tournament before Wimbledon. “Especially in the first round, I felt the lack of matches,” Sinner said. “Also, today there were a couple of moments. I need to get back into this rhythm. If we look at the scoreboard, it was very close, so these matches, and especially the individual sets, help me a lot.”

The defending champion believes he can still improve as the tournament goes on. “Of course, we aim to get a little better. Tomorrow is a day off. Yesterday I didn’t do much because my first match was five sets and very long, so I’m happy about today.”

–IANS

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