London, July 6 (IANS) World No. 1 Jannik Sinner advanced to the fourth round of men’s singles at Wimbledon for a fourth consecutive year by overcoming an injured Pedro Martinez 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 here on Saturday. Having dropped just 17 games in his campaign so far, the Italian has equalled the Open Era record for fewest games dropped while reaching the men’s singles fourth round at Wimbledon, held by Jan Kodes in 1972.

Sinner is yet to drop his serve this week. He has won all 37 service games he has played, fending off all eight break points he has faced.

On Saturday, Sinner led Martinez 5-0 in the first set before the Spaniard took a medical timeout to receive treatment on his right shoulder. Martinez struggled to serve at full capacity — often firing first serves at 80 mph – while the Italian remained typically dominant from the back of the court.

“I’m very happy to be in the second week, but I think we all saw he was struggling with the shoulder,” said Sinner in his comments after the match. “He couldn’t serve very well, and especially on this surface, if you can’t serve well, it’s not easy to play. But huge credit to him for coming out. From my side, I tried to stay solid from the back of the court.”

Martinez grew in confidence in a free-hitting display in the second set, carving out four break points in the eighth game. Yet Sinner saved all of them with a mix of bruising ball striking and pinpoint serving to reassert his dominance on the encounter before racing to a one-hour, 55-minute victory.

By reaching the fourth round at a Grand Slam tournament for the 17th time, Sinner overtook Nicola Pietrangeli (16) to claim the all-time Italian record.

Sinner set a clash with Grigor Dimitrov, who moved past Sebastian Ofner 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(0). The 23-year-old Sinner is chasing his fourth major trophy and first at Wimbledon, where he reached the semifinals in 2023 before falling to Novak Djokovic.

–IANS

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