Wimbledon: Sinner overcomes Kecmanovic in five-set thriller

World number one, Jannik Sinner, came from behind to defeat Miomir Kecmanovic in five sets and begin his Wimbledon title defence with a hard-fought first-round victory.

The defending champion recovered from a slow start to beat the Serbian 4-6, 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 6-2, 6-3 after three and a half hours on Centre Court.

The victory came a month after Sinner’s second-round exit at the French Open, where he surrendered a two-set lead against Argentina’s Juan Manuel Cerundolo.

Sinner faced a tense moment in the third set when he slipped behind the baseline and took time to get back to his feet, prompting the umpire to check on him.

ALSO READ: Wimbledon players end media boycott after talks over prize money

The Italian also played through a toenail problem, with blood visible on his shoe during the fourth set. He later explained that the bleeding was caused by the injury.

Despite the setback, Sinner recovered to win only his second five-set match in his last 10 attempts and avoided becoming just the third defending Wimbledon men’s singles champion to lose in the opening round.

Kecmanovic, ranked 50th in the world, took advantage of Sinner’s early errors to claim the opening set after breaking serve in the ninth game.

Sinner responded by cutting down his mistakes in the second set, winning every point behind his first serve to level the contest.

The Serbian regained the advantage by fighting back from 3-0 down in the third-set tie-break before converting his second set point.

However, Sinner quickly regained control, winning the fourth set before producing the decisive break in the fifth to complete the comeback.

Sinner finished with 31 aces and 72 winners. After reducing his unforced errors significantly in the closing stages, he advanced to the second round, where he will face Portugal’s Nuno Borges.