JANNIK Sinner equalled a 53-year mark for dominance in the first three rounds of the men's singles at Wimbledon as the world number one dropped just 17 games on his march to the last 16.
Sinner crushed Spanish world number 52 Pedro Martinez, who was carrying a shoulder injury, in a 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 third-round demolition on Centre Court on Saturday.
The 23-year-old Italian's loss of only 17 games from his three matches equals the SW19 Open Era record set by Jan Kodes in 1972.
“About the games lost, this is whatever. I’m not looking at these kind of records. I know that everything can change very quickly from one round to the other,“ Sinner said.
When Bjorn Borg won the title without dropping a set in 1976, he had conceded 27 games over the first three matches, while Roger Federer, the only other man to achieve the feat in 2017, had lost 28.
Sinner is yet to have his serve broken and has faced just eight break points, four of which were repelled against Martinez.
He has spent only five hours and 23 minutes on court so far, which is six minutes less than his French Open final defeat by Carlos Alcaraz last month.
Sinner will face Bulgarian 19th seed Grigor Dimitrov for a place in the quarter-finals -AFP
