Jannik Sinner continued his cruise through the Wimbledon draw as he brushed aside a hampered Pedro Martinez to reach the last-16.
It was a case of the calm after the storm on Centre Court, which had been at fever pitch on Friday night for Emma Raducanu’s thrilling showdown with Aryna Sabalenka.
The roof was again closed here but there was little for the crowd to get behind here, beyond the occasional rallying cry after a fleeting moment of inspiration from Martinez.
He had to wait 27 minutes for his first game of the match, by which point he had already lost five of them and required a medical timeout, and while the Spaniard became more competitive from that point, Sinner was barely required to break sweat in a 6-1 6-3 6-1 win.
Sinner has been in ruthless form throughout these championships, dropping only 17 games across his three wins. He has not had his serve broken in any of those matches.
The world number one will next face 19th seed Grigor Dimitrov for a place in the quarter-finals.
“Obviously very happy,” Sinner said his on-court interview.
“But we all saw he was struggling with the shoulder. Couldn’t serve very well. Especially on this surface, when you don’t serve well, it’s not easy to play. Huge respect to him for coming out here and competing. It was not easy for him.”
The top seed added: “Every time you enter the second week of a Slam it means it’s a very special occasion. Even more special at Wimbledon. I’m very happy to be in the second week. We try to keep going. Keep pushing. First week couldn’t have gone better. Let’s see what’s coming.”
Sinner broke early to breeze into an early 3-0 lead and it was hard to see how Martinez would hold serve. He was floating his delivery over the net, one first serve at 76mph feeling slow enough that Martinez could have strolled over and returned it himself, and the only problem for Sinner was adjusting to just how much time he had.
The double break inevitably came and Martinez’s struggles were explained by a medical timeout, as a trainer came on to treat his right shoulder, and that had an immediate impact.
There was a huge roar as Martinez picked up his first game and although Sinner then immediately wrapped up the set, there were at least now two participants in the match.
But Sinner, inevitably, had the better of the longer rallies, Martinez’s grunts becoming more desperate by the shot, and he was broken to trail 3-2 in the second set.
His best moments of the match came when he had four opportunities to break and level at 4-4, the Spaniard waving his hand to conduct the Centre Court and they responded with roars that echoed under the roof.
Sinner was not in a generous mood, though, saving all four and then holding with a drop shot, and he got the job done in the following game on Martinez’s serve to move a set away from the win.
The victory march picked up pace as Sinner broke and then broke again in the third set. Martinez’s afternoon was summed up by a forehand sent long with Sinner off balance and not even in the picture, gifting the Italian two break points and the second was duly taken for a double break.
Martinez won a point on Sinner’s serve in the set at the tenth time of asking before saving two match points to avoid a bagel, but there were to be no further acts of defiance.
