By Shrivathsa Sridhar
LONDON, June 29 (Reuters) – World number one Jannik Sinner survived an early scare in his Wimbledon title defence but the Italian shook off the rust and fought past Serb Miomir Kecmanovic 4-6 6-3 6-7(6) 6-2 6-3 on Monday to reach the second round.
Victory in Sinner’s first competitive grass court match of the season following his premature French Open exit last month was his 94th win at the Grand Slams, drawing him level with Nicola Pietrangeli for the most by an Italian.
It was far from comfortable as Sinner lost the opening set to spark concerns among fans recalling his second-round shock at Roland Garros, but normal service soon resumed in the second set which the 24-year-old secured with a fiery ace.
But more tense moments followed as Sinner grimaced after a fall in the next set and later appeared to have bloodstains on his shoe for a separate issue, and though he soldiered on, he crumbled in a tiebreak that looked his for the taking.
The four-times Grand Slam champion roared back to life and cruised through the fourth set to force a decider, where he took full control and prevailed to book a second-round meeting with Portugal’s Nuno Borges.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in London; Editing by Alison Williams)
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