No. 1 Jannik Sinner advanced to the Wimbledon quarterfinals despite hurting his right elbow in a fall and dropping the first two sets Monday night, after his opponent, Grigor Dimitrov, had to retire with an injured pectoral muscle.
Sinner hadn’t dropped a set in the tournament until falling behind No. 19 seed Dimitrov 6-3, 7-5. But at 2-all in the third set, Dimitrov stopped playing.
“I don’t know what to say. He’s an incredible player, I think we all saw this today,” Sinner said while giving a reluctant on-court interview. “I don’t take this as a win at all.”
It’s the fifth consecutive Grand Slam tournament where Dimitrov failed to complete a match, the longest such streak by any man in the Open era. He also retired at the Australian Open in January and the French Open in May, plus last year’s Wimbledon and US Open.
Overall it was Dimitrov’s 10th career retirement at a major.
“He’s been so unlucky in the past,” said Sinner, who called Dimitrov a good friend. “Very unfortunate for us to witness.”
ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
