After his devastating defeat by Alcaraz in Paris, in which he squandered a two-set lead and three championship points in a five-and-a-half-hour epic, Sinner announced his arrival as one of the title favourites at SW19.
The top seed, a three-time major winner, comprehensively outclassed the 95th-ranked Nardi to complete an efficient victory in one hour and 48 minutes on the UK’s hottest day of the year.
The 23-year-old, who will face Australian Aleksandar Vukic next, reflected on his French Open loss in his post-match interview.
“New tournament, new chances, new challenges,” said Sinner, after demonstrating why he has reached at least the quarter-finals at Wimbledon for the past three years.
“If you don’t enjoy playing on these courts, I don’t know where you will enjoy [it]. I’m very happy to be here and let’s see what is coming.”
Nardi, 21, offered resistance in the first set and managed to escape the first five break points he faced – but it was not long before Sinner asserted himself.
Eventually taking his seventh opportunity to clinch the breakthrough and capture the first set, Sinner carried that momentum into the second as the gulf between the players became increasingly apparent as the match wore on.
Nardi was unable to live with Sinner’s devastating combination of pace, power and precision hitting and an entirely one-sided third set barely stretched beyond 20 minutes.
