Young Italian Yannick Sener couldn’t keep up with veteran American John Isner’s serve, but the 10th seed was saving enough other weapons to win 6-4 7-6 6-3 and reach the fourth round at Wimbledon on Friday.
The 37-year-old Isner needed five aces to break Ivo Karlovic’s record of 13,728 and had already hit 24 aces in total in the match, but he was unable to find solutions to his 20-year-old Italian opponent, who roamed all over the court and fired huge groundstrokes.
Sener set up a fourth-round meeting with 19-year-old Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, who won 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 over German Oscar Otte.
Sener, who became the youngest Italian player in the professional era to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon, did not face a break point on Friday, while 20th seed Isner broke once in the first and third sets.
Sener said he has a strong friendship with Alcaraz off the field.
In response to a question about whether the confrontations between them will turn into one of the most important matches in men’s tennis in the future, the Italian player said, “It is difficult to answer this question. Of course, I wish that would happen and be a part of it. But I still have a lot of work to do, so let’s wait to see what the future holds for Carlos and me. We are still young and doing great tennis, and we hope that our matches will be the focus of attention in the future. But I don’t think much about it. I am focusing on developing myself, and I still have a lot of work to do.”
