By Shrivathsa Sridhar
LONDON, June 29 (Reuters) - World number one Jannik Sinner survived an early scare in his Wimbledon title defence but the Italian shook off the rust and fought past Serb Miomir Kecmanovic 4-6 6-3 6-7(6) 6-2 6-3 on Monday to reach the second round.
Victory in Sinner's first competitive grass court match of the season following his premature French Open exit last month was his 94th win at the Grand Slams, drawing him level with Nicola Pietrangeli for the most by an Italian.
"First
of all, thank you all for coming. It's such a huge honour to be the first player to come out here on Centre Court and start the tournament," Sinner said.
"It was a little tight in the beginning, I didn't play at my best but I tried to get into it. It was my first official match on grass which is also a very important factor.
"I'm happy I turned it around because the third set was a very tough one to swallow."
It was far from comfortable as Sinner lost the opening set to spark concerns among fans recalling his second-round shock at Roland Garros, but normal service soon resumed in the second set which the 24-year-old secured with a fiery ace.
TENSE MOMENTS FOR SINNER FANS
More tense moments followed as Sinner grimaced after a fall in the next set and later had bloodstains on his shoe for a separate issue, and though he soldiered on, he crumbled in a tiebreak that looked his for the taking.
Sinner said the issue with his foot was not serious despite the pounding it took during his third-longest match at Wimbledon at three hours and 30 minutes.
"It seems much worse than it is. I'm actually surprised that they let me keep playing because my all white outfit turned into a little red," he added, referencing Wimbledon's strict policy.
"It's just a nail. I didn't want to disturb Miomir either because we both had good rhythm. It was a great match from both so I didn't want to take any time (off court). It's all good."
The four-times Grand Slam champion roared back to life and cruised through the fourth set to force a decider, where he took full control and prevailed to book a second-round meeting with Portugal's Nuno Borges.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in London; Editing by Alison Williams)
