Top seed bundled out as Wimbledon draw rocked

Top-seeded Jannik Sinner has been knocked out of Wimbledon in a five-set loss to Daniil Medvedev. Medvedev will take on reigning champion Carlos Alcaraz in the semi.

The Italian was treated by a trainer and left the court during the third set, seemingly surged in the fourth and then faltered again in the fifth, eventually losing 6-7 (7), 6-4, 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-3 in the quarter-finals on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST).

“It’s always tricky, because you want to play more points to make him suffer a little bit more — in a good way — and at the same time, you know that he at one point is going to say, ‘OK, I can not run anymore so I’m going to go full power’,” the fifth-seeded Medvedev said.

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“And that’s what he did.”

“I was struggling physically,” said Sinner, who had won his past five matches against Medvedev, including a five-setter in the final of the Australian Open in January. “It was not an easy moment. I tried to fight with that what I had today.

“It’s a tough one to swallow,” Sinner said.

It was not immediately clear what was wrong with Sinner, who had his heart rate checked while sitting on the sideline before heading to the locker room. The 22-year-old from Italy returned after about 10 minutes and resumed playing, but lost the first game back to love.

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After getting broken by 2021 US Open champion Medvedev to fall behind 2-1 in the third, Sinner requested medical attention and leaned back in his chair at Centre Court.

He rested his head in a hand at one point while speaking with the trainer before they headed toward the locker room.

During a later changeover, Sinner draped a towel over his head. While he did regain his usual verve, particularly on his booming forehand, and pushed the match to a fifth set — the 36th this fortnight and the most at any Grand Slam tournament in the Open era, which dates to 1968 — Sinner could not get over the line.

“He was not feeling that good … and then he started playing better,” Medvedev said.

Medvedev began finding the space to deliver more winners, compiling 13 in the closing set alone, and broke for a 3-1 lead, then held for 4-1 and was on his way back to the semi-finals at the All England Club for the second consecutive year.

The Russian lost to eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz at that stage in 2023 and will meet him again after Alcaraz beat Tommy Paul in the later match.

In the women’s quarter-finals, Donna Vekic reached the final four at a major for the first time in her 43rd Slam, defeating qualifier Lulu Sun 5-7, 6-4, 6-1.

Vekic, a 28-year-old from Croatia, pondered quitting the sport on multiple occasions — including as recently as right before the French Open began in May.

“I didn’t have any energy, any motivation to keep practising, keep pushing, because I felt like the last couple months I’ve given everything for tennis, and I wasn’t getting the results that I kind of expected,” Vekic said.

“Now I’m the semi-finals,” Vekic said.

“Not just in tennis, (but) in life, things can turn pretty fast.”

She now faces No.7 Jasmine Paolini or No.19 Emma Navarro, who were scheduled to play each other later on Tuesday.

Sinner was a Wimbledon semi-finalist a year ago and carried a nine-match winning streak into Tuesday, including a grass-court title at Halle, Germany, last month. He moved up to No.1 in the ATP rankings, replacing Novak Djokovic there, on June 10 after getting to the semi-finals at the French Open.

His exit follows that of the No.1 women’s seed, Iga Swiatek, in the third round. It is the first time since 2018 that both the top woman and top man are gone from Wimbledon before the semi-finals. That year, Roger Federer lost in the quarter-finals and Simona Halep in the third round.

Medvedev had lost his five most recent matches against Sinner, including in the final of the Australian Open in January.

That day, Medvedev took the first two sets, before Sinner clawed all the way back to win in five for his first Grand Slam title.

That result dropped Medvedev’s career record in major finals to 1-5. Now he’s one victory from a seventh such appearance.