Sinner sends Djokovic packing with ruthless semi-final display

LONDON :Top seed Jannik Sinner ensured Novak Djokovic will be absent from a Wimbledon men's singles final for the first time in eight years after handing the Serbian great a brutal Centre Court battering on Friday.

Italian Sinner lost both his previous Wimbledon duels with Djokovic but turned the tables in emphatic fashion as his power and precision proved too much for the seven-time champion who, at 38, looked every bit his age in a humbling 6-3 6-3 6-4 loss.

In his first Wimbledon final, the 23-year-old Sinner will face Spain's Carlos Alcaraz in a tantalising re-match of their recent French Open humdinger which the Italian lost after battling for more than five hours, squandering three championship points.

"I don't know what to expect, you saw the last final and you never know," Sinner, just the third Italian to reach a Wimbledon singles final and hoping to become his country's first champion at the grasscourt slam," said on court.

"It's a huge honour to share the court with Carlos, we try to push ourselves to the limit. I love watching him. Hopefully it will be a good match like the last one, I don't know about better, I don't think that's possible."

Djokovic, who arrived in London bidding to equal Roger Federer's men's record eight Wimbledon titles and claim an unprecedented 25th major title, had not lost an All England Club semi-final since the Swiss got the better of him in 2012.

But his 52nd Grand Slam semi-final proved a bridge too far as Sinner repeated his victory at the same stage of Roland Garros to confirm that a new order has now firmly established itself at the top of men's tennis.

Djokovic has often looked superhuman on Wimbledon's most historic stage, but on Friday Father Time chased him down as he looked