Jannik Sinner topples Carlos Alcaraz in Next Gen Round of 16 battle

Jannik Sinner progressed into the Wimbledon quarter-finals after he proved too hot to handle for Carlos Alcaraz in a meeting between two of the biggest prospects in the sport.

A breathless start by the Italian saw him grab the initiative and only briefly let it slip against the 19-year-old, who eventually hit his straps but could never find the level that saw him make the last eight at the US Open and Roland Garros in the past year.

Sinner, 20, had never won at the All England Club before this summer but took his sixth match point to claim a 6-1 6-4 6-7 (8) 6-3 success in three hours and 35 minutes to set up a potential dual with defending champion Novak Djokovic.

This was only their third battle at ATP level and the Spaniard held the upper-hand at the start of what could be a rivalry destined to dominate the next decade of tennis.

A stunning forehand winner from Alcaraz started proceedings and appeared to show his intent but his fellow Next Gen champion soon started to dictate.

Sinner had to fight hard to hold his first two service games and then seized the moment on his Centre Court debut when his impressive return could only be netted by Alcaraz to hand the Italian an early break.

Fifth seed Alcaraz was also playing on Wimbledon’s biggest stage for the first time and looked out-of-sorts with a slip and double-fault allowing his Italian rival to take the opener, which was sealed with the first ace of the clash.

Sinner wins the battle of youth.@janniksin becomes the youngest man to reach the quarter-finals at The Championships since 2014#Wimbledon | #CentreCourt100 pic.twitter.com/ProofLIX6u

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 3, 2022

An unexpected period of 40 minutes would pass before the teenager ended Sinner’s run of