Men’s world No1 Jannik Sinner was knocked out of Wimbledon in a pulsating quarter-final encounter with Daniil Medvedev, which lasted exactly four hours.
A repeat of the Australian Open final from January, it was a similar marathon that followed a very different script as Medvedev held out for a 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 2-6, 6-3 victory.
A contest which started in rather dull fashion with both players slugging it out from the back of the court, its first twist came as Sinner appeared to fall sick, needing treatment off the court and looking on the verge of retirement.
But he stuck at it, seemed to come back to life and turned the momentum of the match back his way as Medvedev suffered a mental capitulation in the fourth set, only for the Russian to wrestle back control in the decider.
With heavy rain battering the Centre Court route, this was a far cry from the conditions of their Australian Open match and yet no less captivating as Medvedev took down many people’s favourite for the title come Sunday.
Afterwards, Medvedev said: “I knew if I wanted to beat Jannik it needed to be a tough match. I felt at one moment he was not feeling that good… and then he started to play better. I managed to stay at a high level and I’m really happy to win and with my game.“
Sinner deservedly took the lead in the first set, dictating the majority of the points and defending a set point against him. He was eventually gifted the set when Medvedev produced an ugly double fault.
The first signs that Sinner was struggling came towards the end of that set as he stood breathless mid-court.
He was broken to fall 2-1 down in the second set but did well to stay in the set despite his intensity level noticeably dipping and him struggling to eke out the long rallies as he had been in the preceding set.
It was an exact mirror in set two as Medvedev broke to go 2-1 ahead after which Sinner, who by this stage looked incredibly pale, had his medical timeout.
On his return, he tried to finish every point early, using drop shots and powerful forehands in that quest. Towards the latter point of the set, there was a smile to his box after one outlandish shot to suggest he was feeling a little better.
He levelled the set and had set points of his own, only for Medvedev to fight back to take a 2-1 lead by winning the subsequent tiebreak.
Medvedev seemed to entirely switch off in set four, giving up after being broken twice and the match again looked to be in Sinner’s hands for the first time since the opening set.
But again Medvedev broke early and served superbly for the remainder of the deciding set to hold out for the win.
