No. 1 Janik Sinner reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals on Monday after his opponent, Grigor Dimitrov, was injured while he loved two sets of two.
Dimitrov, the 19th seed of the men's singles bracket, won the first two sets against thinners 6-3, 7-5. Dimitrov and the Sinner tied 2-2 in the third time, Dimitrov ended the match after experiencing pain on the right side of his body.
“I don't win this at all. This is an unfortunate moment that we witness,” Thinner said after the match in an on-court interview. “(Dimitrov) is suffering from an injury and is struggling in the Grand Slam, so it's very difficult to see him again with this injury.
Injuries have become a problem for Dimitrov, especially in the Grand Slam tournament. He had to retire from his final four Grand Slam appearances before Monday, including last year's fourth round of Wimbledon with Danil Medvedev.
Dimitrov, 34, has not made it past the quarterfinals of the Grand Slam since the US opened in 2019. His best finish at Wimbledon came in 2014 when he advanced to the semi-finals and lost to Novak Djokovic.
Dimitrov played well with Thinner on Monday, hitting more aces and winners, scoring 79 points compared to Thinner's 65.
“Thank you for coming, but this is not the end we wanted to see, it's very sad,” Sinner said. “We all hope that (Dimitrov) is the best. Let's applause him and his team.”
The 23-year-old Thinner is currently the top-ranked male player in the world.
After winning the US Open last year, Sinner won the Australian Open in January. He also appeared in the French Open Finals in June, losing in five sets to Carlos Alcaraz after winning the first two sets of the match.
The sinner never beat Wimbledon. His best finish was in 2023 when he reached the semi-finals.
Thinner will play American Ben Shelton in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.