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Eighth seed Jannik Sinner of Italy beat Daniel Elahi Galan of Colombia 7-6 6-4 6-3 in the fourth round of Wimbledon on Sunday, 9th July.
Sinner, who has had a relatively straightforward draw in the tournament, will face Roman Safiullin of Russia in the quarterfinals on Monday, 11th July. The Italian is now an odds-on favourite to reach the last four and will have an outside chance of winning his first Grand Slam title.
However, for that to happen, the Italian will have to overcome a colossus in the form of Novak Djokovic, who is eyeing his fifth consecutive Wimbledon title. Sinner gave Djokovic a mighty scare at last year’s Wimbledon quarterfinals, with the Serb having to erase a two-set deficit to win in the end. The Italian will fancy his chances against the Serb should both of them manage to reach the semifinal.
On that note, let's take a look at two things that stood out in the Italian's fourth round match against Galan:
#1. Jannik Sinner feasted on Galan’s second serve:
Galan did well with his first serve, but his second serve was exploited by the eighth seed. The Colombian fired 12 aces in the match, but was broken thrice in the match. Galan managed to win only 40% of the points on his second delivery, as Sinner made good use of that weakness.
The first set saw quite a tough battle, with both players managing to hold their serve throughout. Still, Jannik Sinner did enough to secure the tie-break 7-4 in the end. Once the Italian got a 1-0 lead, it was always going to be tough for the Colombian to catch up with him.
#2. Galan’s drop shots were good to watch:
Sinner dominated the proceedings from the baseline with his powerful groundstrokes and Galan had a tough time contending with them as the match progressed. The Italian managed to get the decisive breaks in the second and third sets to seal the deal quite easily.
However, the Colombian used his drop shots well in the last two sets. He hit a few winners with them and also managed to drag the Italian to the net quite a few times with their help. However, Jannik Sinner was the more dominant player in general and did enough to put an end to the Colombian’s resistance.
