Jannik Sinner navigated his latest tricky assignment at Wimbledon with a straight-sets win over Nuno Borges before he hinted he will play at Queen’s Club in 2027.
The four-time grand slam champion decided to skip his traditional warm-up tournament on the grass in Halle this year and went straight from the clay of Roland Garros to the lawn at the All England Club via one exhibition match at Hurlingham last month.
Sinner struggled in his five-set, first-round win over Miomir Kecmanovic and was far from perfect against Portuguese opponent Nuno Borges on Centre Court on Wednesday before he raised his level enough to triumph 7-6 (4) 7-6 (2) 6-4.
“Second match on grass, I was not looking for perfection. I tried to improve, felt like at times I did. Now we’ll see how it goes,” Sinner said.
“I feel like the grass here, it is a little bit different than anywhere else you play. Very similar to Queen’s though.
“Yeah, (playing at Queen’s is) something we will take in consideration maybe for the next year, but this is a conversation we’re going to have after the tournament.
“Again, the first couple of matches, I know that they are always tough. Now I’m past them. Let’s see what’s coming on the next round.”
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Next up for Sinner is Jenson Brooksby, who snapped a nine-match losing streak at Queen’s last month and swatted aside 31st seed Ignacio Buse at Wimbledon.
Third seed Felix Auger-Aliassime sent down 15 aces on his way to a straight-sets triumph over Dino Prizmic on Court One to make the third round for the first time since his quarter-final run at Wimbledon in 2021.
Daniil Medvedev needed four sets to get the better of Daniel Merida and is on collision course with old Wimbledon rival Hubert Hurkacz, who knocked out the Russian in 2021 on his way to a career-best run to the semi-finals.
Unseeded Hurkacz beat Sebastian Ofner in one hour and 57 minutes and will play one-time doubles partner Tommy Paul for a place in the last 16.
A bumper and boisterous crowd on Court Three watched 19-year-old Brazilian sensation Joao Fonseca ease through against Jesper de Jong.
Roman Safiullin stands in Fonseca’s way after he outlasted Botic van de Zandschulp in five sets. Arthur Rinderknech, the 25th seed, and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina also reached round three.
Earlier on Wednesday, French Open runner-up Fabio Cobolli completed his first-round tie following Tuesday’s stoppage for bad light and beat Mariano Navone. Frances Tiafoe repeated the trick against Terence Atmane to set up a clash with British hopeful Jan Choinski on Thursday.
