Wimbledon top seed Jannik Sinner breezes past Miomir Kecmanovic into fourth round with straight-sets victory

Wimbledon top seed Jannik Sinner hardly broke sweat as he swept aside Serbia's Miomir Kecmanovic in the third round. A rapid 21-minute first set was followed by a slightly more challenging second, but the Italian wrapped up the match in style and proclaimed he has made friends with the All England Club's unique grass surface. Sinner faces either Denis Shapovalov or Ben Shelton in the next round.

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Video credit: SNTV

Jannik Sinner breezed past Miomir Kecmanovic 6-1 6-4 6-2 as the top seed continued his formidable bid for his first Wimbledon title.

The top seed made light work of the first set, though was slightly stretched in the second by Kecmanovic who was battling hard to reach the fourth round for the first time.

And after comfortably easing through the final set, Sinner was a picture of contentment, believing he is at peace with the unique All England Club surface.

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“[I’ve learned] to make friends with the grass,” laughed Sinner. “They always tell me to be very kind to the grass and something positive will happen.

“In the beginning, I was struggling a lot, but every year I feel like I’m improving. Being happy on the court is the most important thing.”

The world No. 1 swept through the opening set in just 21 minutes, a Kecmanovic hold in the sixth the only blemish for the Italian.

Half of the first-set games that Sinner took were to love while the Serbian failed to push his opponent to deuce.

The second set was a different story. Centre Court waited until the ninth game for a break of serve, perhaps unsurprisingly going the way of Sinner.

Fighting back from 40-15 down, the 22-year-old clinched a crucial break with a smart volley and held to go within one set of the match.

Six aces to Kecmanovic’s one proved vital in the second, while the Serb was still waiting to contest his first break point.

And the Australian Open holder did not let up, breaking Kecmanovic’s serve at the first time of asking and duly leapt into a 5-1 lead.

But after holding, the world No. 52, who had been growing increasingly dejected as the match progressed, finally brought his opponent to break point at 40-30.

A searing 89mph cross-court forehand from Sinner stopped Kecmanovic in his tracks and the Italian swiftly wrapped up the match.

Having dispatched of Yannick Hanfmann and Matteo Berrettini, both by three sets to one, Sinner was feeling optimistic about his tournament so far.

Sinner said: "It feels great to be back here. It's a very, very special place, if not the most special place to play tennis and I love the atmosphere here so this all combined makes me very happy.

"I'm very happy about my performance today. I felt like I was hitting the ball with good pace. I'm very happy about that."

One of Denis Shapovalov or Ben Shelton awaits Sinner in the fourth round, the former leading 3-2 in the first set when rain stopped play earlier on Friday.

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