Playing his first match since his shock second-round exit at the Roland Garros, Sinner returned to winning ways by battling past Miomir Kecmanovic 4-6, 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-2, 6-3, despite spraying 52 unforced errors and briefly raising hopes of a huge upset. The Italian, however, dug deep to outlast the resilient Kecmanovic in three hours, 30 minutes, starting the proceedings at the Centre Court on the opening day.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cIt\u2019s such a huge honour to start the tournament,\u201d Sinner said in his on-court interview. \u201cI was a little tight in the beginning. I didn\u2019t play my very best, but I tried to get into it. It was my first official match on grass. I\u2019m happy that I turned it around. The third set was a very tough one to swallow.\"<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Kecmanovic produced an inspired display in the third set that featured an early contender for point of the tournament. Trailing 5\/6 in the tie-break, the Serbian stretched Sinner from corner to corner before charging the net, forcing the Italian to dive to the turf and bringing the Centre Court crowd to its feet.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
It was the second time in the set that Sinner had ended up on the grass. At 2-2, the 24-year-old suffered a worrying slip, landing awkwardly with his knees bent inwards. The fall drew gasps from the packed stands, but Sinner avoided the need for a medical timeout and quickly resumed play.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Having cut down on his unforced errors to force a deciding set, Sinner seized control of the match and raced to victory, bringing a convincing finish to a contest that had been anything but straightforward through the opening three sets.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
After surviving a stern opening test, with David Beckham among those watching from the Royal Box, Sinner booked a second-round meeting with Portugal's Nuno Borges.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Having cut down on his unforced errors to force a deciding set, Sinner seized control of the match and raced to victory, bringing a convincing finish to a contest that had been anything but straightforward through the opening three sets.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Sinner was avoiding becoming just the third defending men's champion to lose in the first round at Wimbledon, but he fought back with a business-like performance that drew parallels with Carlos Alcaraz's opening match last year. The Spaniard overcame Fabio Fognini in a nervy five-set clash to get his title defence underway before surging to the final, where he was stopped by Sinner.<\/p>\r\n\r\n