World No. 1 Jannik Sinner eased past Japanese qualifier Shintaro Mochizuki 6-3, 7-6(0), 6-3 to book his fifth consecutive quarter-final spot at Wimbledon. The defending champion Sinner is just the 11th man in the Open Era to reach a fifth quarterfinal the grass court major and the second active man after seven-time titlist Novak Djokovic.
It was the Japanese who earned the first break point (Sinner quickly whipped that back), but it was also he who was broken first (Sinner just lifted Mochizuki’s service game from his racket strings like a pickpocket lifting a phone from a handbag).
After 33 minutes, the champion was a set to the good. Mochizuki made a better fist of protecting his serve in the second set, not dropping a point in his first three service games. After seven games, Sinner began to chip away at his rival’s defences.
He held three break points; there were seven deuces and still he could not break Mochizuki’s serve. At 4-4, the Italian looked thoroughly frustrated, Wimbledon reports. Sinner was winning the majority of the short rallies but if he found himself dragged into a longer exchange, he ended up winning the point only 33 per cent of the time.
The Japanese was outfoxing him with that magical backhand and a refusal to offer Sinner any pace with which to work. When the roof was closed. Sinner headed off court to freshen up and have a think. When he came back, he had obviously decided that he was going to have to take the fight to Mochizuki.
There was no point in playing safe and waiting for the Japanese to fade. In the end, Mochizuki solved the problem for Sinner: he played a poor tie-break, went two sets down and never recovered from there. "It was the first time we played against each other," Sinner said.
"I didn't know exactly what to expect, but I tried to handle certain situations slightly better than him, which I've done. But he's an incredible player. Coming from Quallies and playing such a high level for such a long time, it's amazing. I wish him only the best.
He should be proud of himself. "It was very tricky to play him, especially on this surface. His game suits very, very well because he's very low, but I tried to stay a bit more aggressive. Had some chances in the second set, couldn't use them. But still, very happy about today's performance, trying to step up every day a little bit better. So I'm very happy about today."