Jannik Sinner might not be the best grass-court player currently, as that title likely goes to Carlos Alcaraz, but Sinner could be the second-best. Plus, he simply doesn't lose to anyone else other than Alcaraz (and one random loss to Alexander Bublik), so why should we expect the Italian to struggle in the third round of Wimbledon against Pedro Martinez?
He didn't, and he won in straight sets. But the match was more interesting than just the score.
Martinez is much better on clay, you see. The 28-year-old has one career title, and that came on clay, and he doesn't have a winning percentage of better than 38 percent on either grass or hard courts. Moreover, the Spaniard should have never made it to the third round.
Far from perfect Jannik Sinner defeats Pedro Martinez in third round of Wimbledon 2025
The wonder is how he did. His shoulder is clearly injured, and he was forced to spin in first serves at less than 100 mph against Sinner. One likely would not have blamed him for retiring after dropping the first set to the Italian 1-6. Sinner led 5-0 before Martinez finally held after taking a medical timeout.
It also speaks to Martinez's skill that even while maimed he was able to hang in against Sinner in the second set. He kept holding serve mostly because his ground strokes were so good. Going toe to toe with Sinnar in such a manner normally portends doom, but not so much with Martinez, oddly.
Perhaps Sinner understood Martinez was struggling with a shoulder ailment and let up a bit. He shouldn't have, of course, but some of the decisions he was making were strange for the ATP No. 1. At times, he had an open court while he approached the net but hit the ball straight back at Martinez.
The way the Italian played might have gotten him beaten against a fitter player and he has to be better as the tournament goes on. Not that he played down to Martinez as the Spaniard was playing well other than his serve, but Sinner was not taking advantage of Martinez's injury.
Sinner was also making things more difficult on himself as he was struggling to get his first serve in, barely landing more than 50 percent in the second set. The Italian had the advantage, however, from an early break in the set, and simply needed to keep holding to take the set. He ended up getting another break and took the set 6-3.
It wasn't until the third set that things truly got ugly for Martinez. Perhaps the closeness of the second set drained him of energy, but he was powerless to do much of anything against Sinner in set three. The Italian jumped out to a 5-0 lead with two breaks of the Spaniard, and the little drama that remained in the match had long disappeared. Sinner won the final set 6-1.
He will next face the winner of the Grigor Dimitrov and Sebastian Ofner match in the fourth round. That will be held on Monday.