Jannik Sinner cruises into Wimbledon semis after dispatching of Ben Shelton in three straight sets

The world number one, wearing a protective sleeve on his racket arm, was still at his clinical best as he ran out a 7-6 (2) 6-4 6-4 winner.Sinner had cancelled a practice session on Tuesday after bashing his elbow in a fall during his dramatic fourth-round match against Grigor Dimitrov.

The problem had badly affected his serve on Monday night, with Dimitrov looking set to knock the Italian out until he was struck down by injury.

But any concerns that the issue would hinder him against Shelton were dispelled during a first set in which he dropped just one point in six service games.

American 10th seed Shelton, meanwhile, was regularly sending down serves in excess of 140mph as the set thundered towards a tie-break.

Read more: What was Britain’s worst Wimbledon ever?

Read more: Wimbledon technology change ‘has turned officials into glorified butlers’

In moving one set ahead, Sinner had incredibly made just one unforced error in 50 minutes of blistering tennis.He warded off a couple of break points at the start of the second, and then at 5-4 he clinched the first break of the match to go two sets up.

The third set stayed on serve until 5-4 again, when Shelton saved a first match point with a powerful forehand and a second with a 140mph ace.But a double-fault gave Sinner a third opportunity and this time he took it, completing his victory in two hours and 19 minutes.

There was only one brief moment when Sinner appeared to be feeling the elbow, and afterwards he said: “When you are in a match with a lot of tension you don’t think about it.

“It has improved from yesterday to today. No excuse. There is no better stage to play tennis and I think I showed that today.”