LONDON: Defending champion Jannik Sinner ended Novak Djokovic’s latest bid to claim a record 25th Grand Slam title in ruthless fashion with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win to reach the Wimbledon final on Friday.

The searing temperatures of previous days dipped for the day’s second semi-final but Sinner turned up the heat on the 39-year-old Djokovic who barely laid a glove on the Italian.

Sinner will bid for a fifth Grand Slam title on Sunday against Germany’s Alexander Zverev who ended the dream run of British wildcard Arthur Fery earlier on Centre Court.

Top seed Sinner has raised his level round by round after a tricky start to his title defence and was dialled in from the first game against the man he lost to at the same stage of this year’s Australian Open.

He did not face a single break point for nearly two hours on Friday by which time he had the match under control.

Djokovic had spent 16-1/2 hours on court to make his 15th Wimbledon semi-final, including the longest match of the tournament against Felix Auger-Aliassime on Tuesday, and his exertions finally seemed to catch up with him.

Sinner pummelled a backhand winner down the line to break serve decisively in the ninth game of the opening set the ball whizzing past a stunned Djokovic.

The 24-year-old Sinner pushed at the door in the second set and Djokovic’s resistance buckled at 3-3 as the Serb was left flat-footed by a sublime Sinner drop shot.

The writing was on the wall when a free-flowing Sinner broke early in the third and although Djokovic fought on he wore a resigned look as his hopes of an eighth Wimbledon title ebbed away in the evening sunshine.

Earlier on Friday, Zverev ended the remarkable Wimbledon run of Fery with a 7-6(0), 6-2, 6-4 victory to reach the final, where he will have an opportunity to win back-to-back Grand Slam trophies after his French Open success.

Fresh off his Roland Garros triumph that handed him a long-awaited breakthrough after years of heartbreak, Zverev made his fifth major title clash.

On a warm afternoon punctuated by gusts of wind, Zverev took time to find his stride as he traded breaks early with Fery, but it was all smooth sailing in the tiebreak where the 29-year-old did not drop a point to win the first set.

Fery, bidding to become the second man to make a major final as a wildcard after Goran Ivanisevic at Wimbledon in 2001, kept pushing in the next set, but he quickly found himself down 1-4 as his more experienced opponent dialled up the intensity.

The vociferous Centre Court crowd rallied behind Fery after the 23-year-old appeared to let his frustrations boil over, but they were soon silenced when Zverev unshackled his fiery serve and forehand to tighten his grip on the match.

Up two sets to love, Zverev continued to dominate Fery and breezed through in clinical fashion to ensure he became only the 13th man in the professional era since 1968 to reach all four Grand Slam finals.

“This Grand Slam’s always been the one I struggle with the most and now all of a sudden, I’m in the final of Wimbledon, so I’m incredibly happy and incredibly proud,” Zverev said. “But we’ve got one more match to go on Sunday, and that’s where the focus will be.”

Published in Dawn, July 11th, 2026