Jannik Sinner beats Ben Shelton to reach Wimbledon’s semifinals with a sleeve on his injured elbow

LONDON (AP) — Jannik Sinner sure didn’t play like someone dealing with an injured right elbow Wednesday, using terrific serving and his usual booming forehand to dismiss 10th-seeded Ben Shelton 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-4 and earn a second appearance in the Wimbledon semifinals.

The No. 1-ranked Sinner wore a white sleeve on his right arm with strips of tape visible underneath — one above the elbow, one below it — two days after he was hurt when he slipped and fell in the opening game of his fourth-round match against Grigor Dimitrov.

Sinner said he felt pain when he hit serves or forehands in that contest, and he dropped the first two sets before moving into the quarterfinals when Dimitrov quit in the third set because he tore a chest muscle.

Sinner, a three-time Grand Slam champion and the runner-up to Carlos Alcaraz at the French Open last month, had an MRI exam on Tuesday and initially canceled a practice session that day but did hit some balls in a 20-minute session at an indoor court later.

“When you are in a match with a lot of tension, you try to not think about it,” said Sinner, who reached his fourth consecutive major semifinal and next faces either 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic or No. 22 Flavio Cobolli. “It has improved a lot from yesterday to today.”

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The other time Sinner made it this far at the All England Club, in 2023, he was eliminated by Djokovic.

Against Shelton at No. 1 Court, Sinner came out as though not a thing were wrong, grabbing 27 of his 29 service points in the first set while accumulating a total of 15 winners to just one unforced error.

Still, Shelton stayed right with him until 2-all in the tiebreaker. That’s when Sinner surged in front, helped by a double-fault and four consecutive forehand errors by Shelton.

At the outset of the second set, Shelton finally made some headway in a return game, getting a pair of break points at 15-40.

On one, Sinner produced a forehand winner. On the other, he pounded a 132 mph serve — his fastest of the match — and rushed forward, getting to deuce when Shelton’s backhand pass attempt found the net. That was followed by a 118 mph ace and a 125 mph service winner.

Those were Shelton’s only break chances.

Later in that set came a brief moment where Sinner did appear to have an issue with his arm after trying to return a 141 mph serve from Shelton, a 22-year-old American who was trying to reach his third Slam semifinal. Sinner shook his right wrist and then held that elbow with his left hand. But that was about it.

At 2-all in third set, Shelton’s father, former tour pro Bryan — who is also his coach — leaned forward in his seat and told Ben: “Just takes one little dip from him. Be ready for the opportunity to take it. Come on! Keep staying there! Let’s go!”

There never was a dip from Sinner. He finished with nearly twice as many winners as unforced errors, 33 to 17, and took 50 of his 56 first-serve points.

Sinner has now won their past six matchups, all in straight sets, including a year ago at Wimbledon and in January at the Australian Open.

On Wednesday, Shelton tried to stay with Sinner in baseline exchanges, which didn’t really work. Not at all.

Sinner won 55 baseline points, Shelton 24. Of the points that lasted five strokes or more, Sinner claimed 44, Shelton just 18.

As for the elbow, Sinner said afterward that it’s “no excuse.”

“There is no better stage to play tennis,” he said, “and I think I showed this today.”

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis