Jannik Sinner moved one step closer to retaining his Wimbledon crown as he eased past seven-time champion Novak Djokovic in straight sets in Thursday's semi-final. 

Sinner claimed a 6-4 6-4 6-4 win in two hours and 21 minutes on Centre Court to set up a showpiece match against Alexander Zverev, who beat Arthuer Fery earlier in the day.

The Italian set the tone for his match victory with a clinical first set. He gave away just four points on serve before breaking Djokovic in the ninth game as he took the lead. 

And it proved to be a similar story in the second, as the world number one continued to dominate on serve before converting his second break point of the seventh game.

The top seed carried that momentum into the third and broke ahead in the very first game as Djokovic struggled to cope with his opponent's power.

Djokovic did provide some fight, as he always does, but he could not convert his only break point of the match in the fourth game of the third set. 

And the 24-time major winner was eliminated in ruthless fashion, with Sinner confirming his spot in Sunday's final with his first match point, sealing his progression when Djokovic's attempted volley went well wide of the right baseline to complete a love service game. 

Sinner has his eyes on the prize

While the Centre Court crowd cheered Djokovic to continue his hunt for a record-breaking 25th major crown, Sinner was focused on keeping his own title defence alive. 

And he did so with an impressive individual display to become the first world number one to reach the men's singles final at Wimbledon in consecutive editions since Djokovic (2019-2021), and the first in consecutive years since Rafael Nadal (2010-11).

The 24-year-old has also claimed his 26th win in men's singles at SW19 from 30 matches. Only three players in the Open Era have claimed more wins from their first 30 matches at this event (John Newcombe, Boris Becker and Bjorn Borg – 27 each).

He is also just the fourth player to defeat Djokovic in back-to-back editions of a grand slam event after Nadal (Roland Garros 2006-08, 2012-14), Roger Federer (US Open 2007-09) and Carlos Alcaraz (Wimbledon 2023-24).

Zverev now stands in Sinner's way of becoming a back-to-back Wimbledon champion, while Djokovic may have played his last-ever game at the All England Club.