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Maria holds, forcing Niemeyer to serve for the set at 5-4, as does Djokovic, who leads Sinner 3-0.
Immediately, Sinner finds three break points – he hasn’t troubled the scorer yet – and he saves the first two, but can’t manage a third. On this occasion, Calvin Betton, our resident coach, notes that “Djokovic will put Sinner in positions he doesn’t like. He never gives the opponent a rhythm – he never gives him three identical blows in a row. Sinner likes the rhythm and there is no way to win the match unless he can score clear three-set winners.”
Niemeyer, meanwhile, holds 5-3 but sends his fifth double. She’s getting away with it so far and can take this match out, but ultimately her wastefulness – she also goes long on an easy forehand return – will cost her if she doesn’t get it right. She leads Maria 5-3.
Looking at Sinner, it’s truly remarkable that he can generate so much power given his chicken legs. But he packs a serious punch – so far his problems have come against players who are good enough to withstand it; before Alcaraz, he hasn’t beaten anyone in the top 10 in quite some time, and he doesn’t (yet?) have the tools to change his approach when plan A doesn’t work. Djokovic holds to love as Maria narrowly avoids a double break, defending well to trail 3-4.
Djokovic and Sinner are out of the Center, and watching two matches at once instead of four feels both tame and intense. Niemeyer, meanwhile, holds again, via deuce again, and leads Maria 4-2.
Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, ready for the main event on Center Court. Photo: Karwai Tang/WireImage
Updated at 13.38 BST
Maria finds her own forehand, hitting a winner for 15-0 and holding to love. Now she will feel more relaxed and after winning the last point of the game, she looks up at her box as if to tell them she is good. It may be too late for this set, but the match is turning into a race.
She’s a real force, is Niemeyer, and she uses her booming forehand to target Maria’s pounding backhand; Maria chops pretty much everything, trying to deny Niemeyer the chance to unleash his power, and it doesn’t really work. A double at 40-30 gives her deuce, but she doesn’t get a sniff on the next two points. Maria 1-3 Niemeyer
Updated at 13.29 BST
At 30-all, Maria – who is not at all relaxed – slices a forehand long but returns with a heavier serve down the T and it’s too good for Niemeyer. She failed to press her first advantage, botching a lob under pressure as Niemeyer stormed the net, then the ace was followed by a double. But she eventually closed out, securing her first game for 1-2.
Nervous service game from Niemeyer that includes a double, but at 40-30 her footwork gets the ball off the forehand and means she can go down the line or cross; she chooses the latter, dematerializing a winner who will make her feel pretty good about life. She leads 2-0.
Germany’s Jules Niemeyer in action Photo: Matthew Childs/Reuters
Updated at 13.22 BST
Niemeyer promptly picked up two break points, scoring on the return to lose the first before Maria meekly dropped a squash drop. Maria 0-1 Niemeyer
And play!
The players are on the court and they are crashing. We will be away soon.
Niemeyer, on the other hand, is early in his career and has the power to burn. This is only her second Wimbledon, but she eliminated Annette Kontaveit, the number two seed, and being relatively unknown makes her difficult to plan.
To get us out we have Maria vs. Niemeyer. Maria has thrown out three seeds – Kirstea, Sakari and Ostapenko – and is running for her life. Before Wimbledon, she had never done better than the second round of a major, but seeing her now, with her family – she is a mother twice – you can see that she has reached a balance, so even though she is 34, no It’s a surprise that he played so well.
Kyrgios is facing a charge of assaulting an ex-girlfriend
The 27-year-old Australian, who reached the quarter-finals on Monday, will appear in court in Canberra next month.
Updated at 13.14 BST
Preamble
Good day and welcome to Wimbledon 2022. Yes, the competition started last week and we’ve been enjoying our lives more since then, but today we’re hitting 88mph and seeing what Doc Emmett Brown called “some serious swearing”.
The second Tuesday used to mean the women’s quarter-finals, but from this year we get two together with two men, and then the same tomorrow – a sensible adjustment that guarantees us two big helpings of wonderful tennis.
And we waste no time at all in stuffing our faces with an absolutely convulsive dish of Novak Djokovic [1] v Jannik Sinner [10], which form proceedings under the Center. The former may be the top seed, but with Rafael Nadal halfway to a Grand Slam, he can’t reasonably claim to be the best player in the world … unless he can win here. And he’ll imagine he’s doing just that, except Sunday’s Sinner, in the shape of his life, smashes Carlos Alcaraz to pieces with the power of his serve and returns. If he plays well again, we’re looking at a potential classic.
And that’s not all! There is no less predictable sport in the world and with more potential champions than women’s tennis, so choose between Marie Buzkova and Ons Jabert [3], Tatiana Maria and Jules Niemeyer will make the last four things too silly even for this blog – but they will all know that this could be the opportunity of a lifetime. On top of that, David Goffen vs Cameron Norrie [9] it will be a fascinating battle of spins, angles and intensity with all the potential to take us the distance. Oh yeah!
Game: 1:00 PM Bulgarian Standard Time on Court #1, 1:30 PM Bulgarian Standard Time on Central Court
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