The proverbial second week of Wimbledon is upon us, and it will start with a bang as both Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz take the court in round four. Sinner goes up against Ben Shelton and Alcaraz meets Ugo Humbert.
(1) Jannik Sinner vs. (14) Ben Shelton
Sinner and Shelton will be squaring off for the fourth time in their careers when they battle for a quarterfinal spot at Wimbledon on Sunday. The head-to-head series stands at 2-1 in favor of Sinner, who most recently prevailed 7-6(4), 6-1 this spring at the Indian Wells Masters. They split a pair of 2023 encounters; Shelton pulled off a 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(5) upset at the Shanghai Masters before Sinner won 7-6(2), 7-5 on the indoor hard courts of Vienna.
An amazing 41-3 match record in 2024 has propelled Sinner atop the rankings and he continues to play every bit like the best player in the world. He has bounced back from a Roland Garros semifinal loss to Alcaraz by compiling an 8-0 record on grass. That includes a title in Halle and a four-set victory over Matteo Berretti during second-round action at the All-England Club–perhaps the highest-quality match of the tournament so far. Sinner otherwise rolled through the first week and now faces an opponent who has played the maximum number of sets (15) through three rounds.
Pick: Sinner in 3
(3) Carlos Alcaraz vs. (16) Ugo Humbert
Alcaraz faced familiar foe Frances Tiafoe in the third round and got a big scare. The American led two sets two one and twice held 0-30 opportunities to seize a break advantage in the fourth, but Alcaraz took that set in a tiebreaker and ended up surviving 5-7, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-2. It was much different story in the reigning French Open champion’s first two rounds, in which he won six consecutive sets against Mark Lajal and Aleksandar Vukic while being pushed to just two tiebreakers. Alcaraz is 11-1 in his last 12 matches overall and 10-0 in his last 10 Wimbledon matches, having defeated Novak Djokovic for the title last summer.
Next up for the 21-year-old on Sunday is a first-ever meeting with Humbert, whose third-round match against Brandon Nakashima was delayed by rain at the start of the fourth-set ‘breaker. The 16th-ranked Frenchman, who had previously advanced with defeats of Alexander Shevchenko (five sets) and Botic van de Zandschulp (straights), came back out on Saturday and finished the job 8-6. Humbert has played a lot of tennis already this fortnight and now awaits a very tough physical test with Alcaraz on the other side of the net. Meanwhile, the third-ranked Spaniard really raised his level in the fifth set against Tiafoe and that should carry over to his next match.
Pick: Alcaraz in 3