On Friday, world No. 13 Jannik Sinner will face former Wimbledon semifinalist John Isner in the third round at Wimbledon.
Sinner began by defeating three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka in four sets in the opening round. In the second round, he faced Mikael Ymer. Both players had break point opportunities early in the first set but were unable to convert them.
With the set tied at 5-4, Ymer survived the first two break points, but the Italian won on his third attempt. Sinner took a 4-1 lead in the second set and didn’t relinquish it to win the match.
He went up a break in the third set to lead 3-1, but the Swede came back to square the match at 3-3.
Sinner had more break point opportunities in the following game, but Ymer saved them all. With the Italian serving to stay in the game at 6-5, he stringed together a few poor points to hand the third set to his opponent.
Sinner won four games in a row to take a 5-1 lead in the fourth set after a rocky start. On Ymer’s serve, he had a match point, but the Swede saved it to postpone the inevitable. The 20-year-old won 6-4, 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 and advanced to the third round at Wimbledon for the first time.
After defeating Enzo Couacaud in five sets, John Isner faced Andy Murray, with whom he had lost all eight prior encounters. The American sprinted out to a 3-1 lead in the first set, which was enough for him to win it later.
In the second set, neither player came close to a breakpoint. Isner prevailed in the subsequent tiebreak to gain another set. The third set was quite similar, with no breaks of serve, but Murray won the match in the tiebreak.
Isner broke in the fourth set to go 4-2 ahead and quickly closed out the match to win 6-4, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (3), 6-4.
Odds, Head-to-head & prediction
Speaking about odds, Sinner has -175 odds to win this match versus Isner (+135).
As far as the head-to-head goes, it is tied at 1-1. Sinner won their previous encounter at the 2021 Davis Cup in straight sets!
In that match and their only previous encounter, Sinner put up a commanding performance against the American, winning 6-2, 6-0.
It’s unusual for Isner to lose a set 6-0. Sinner will undoubtedly win again if he can match his previous performance. After his victory over Murray, the American will be feeling fairly confident and will fancy his chances of another huge scalp.
Isner will not go down without a fight, but Sinner should advance to the next round!
