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Wimbledon: Fritz, De Minaur, Svitolina make quarters

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Images from Day 8 of Wimbledon 2024 at The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in London on Monday.

Fritz ousts Zverev in five-set thriller

USA's Taylor Fritz  celebrates after winning his fourth round match against Germany's Alexander Zverev

IMAGE: USA's Taylor Fritz celebrates after winning his fourth round match against Germany's Alexander Zverev. Photograph: X

Taylor Fritz blew a hole in Alexander Zverev's perfect serving record at this year's Wimbledon by producing a storming comeback from two sets down to topple the German fourth seed with a 4-6, 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6 (3), 6-3 victory to reach the quarter-finals.

 

For two-and-a-half sets on Monday Zverev's serve was impenetrable, as it had been during the championships as he notched up 56 successive holds over the course of four matches.

Zverev looked well set to reach the last eight of the grasscourt major for the first time as he led by two sets to love and was locked at 4-4 in the third.

But a double fault from Zverev handed Fritz an unexpected break in the next game and from then on the American's performance caught fire.

He chased down everything the German could throw at him and produced some eye-popping diving winners in the fifth set to leave Zverev staring at defeat.

A backhand winner into an open court left Fritz raising his arm in triumph, while Zverev was left to digest yet another disappointing exit from Wimbledon.

The American 13th seed will next face Italian Lorenzo Musetti.

De Minaur ends Fils fight back to advance

Australia's Alex De Minaur reacts during his fourth round match against France's Arthur Fils 

IMAGE: Australia's Alex De Minaur reacts during his fourth round match against France's Arthur Fils. Photograph: Matthew Childs/Reuters

Australia's Alex De Minaur reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals for the first time as he beat rising Frenchman Arthur Fils 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 on Monday.

The ninth seed looked in control for two sets against the 20-year-old but Fils, bidding to become the youngest Frenchman in the professional era to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final, responded superbly to extend the Court One contest.

De Minaur, watched by his girlfriend Katie Boulter, the British number one, moved clear in the fourth set though to nip the Fils comeback in the bud.

France's Arthur Fils in action during his fourth round match against Australia's Alex De Minaur

IMAGE: France's Arthur Fils in action during his fourth round match against Australia's Alex De Minaur. Photograph: Isabel Infantes/Reuters

Worryingly for the 25-year-old, who will play seven-time champion Novak Djokovic or Denmark's Holger Rune in the quarter-finals, he appeared to be in some discomfort at the end.

"I'll be alright," De Minaur said on court when asked if he had sustained an injury.

"I made it harder than I should have and happy to get over the finish line."

De Minaur has previously reached two Grand Slam quarter-finals, losing to Dominic Thiem at the 2020 U.S. Open and Alexander Zverev at the French Open this year.

Tearful Svitolina reaches quarters

Ukraine's Elina Svitolina celebrates winning her fourth round match against China's Xinyu Wang

IMAGE: Ukraine's Elina Svitolina celebrates winning her fourth round match against China's Xinyu Wang. Photograph: Hannah Mckay/Reuters

Elina Svitolina powered into the Wimbledon quarter-finals with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over China's Wang Xinyu on Monday but the result was secondary for the tearful Ukrainian whose thoughts were on the war back home.

Shortly after setting up a showdown with 2022 champion Elena Rybakina, Svitolina burst into tears in her post-match interview over the news that Ukraine's main children's hospital in Kyiv had been hit by missile strikes.

"For sure it was a good performance from my side today. It's a difficult today for Ukrainian people," said Svitolina, before breaking down.

The 21st seed, who last year matched her best run at the grasscourt Grand Slam with a run to the semi-finals, wore a black ribbon on her white top on Monday.

"It wasn't easy to focus today on the match. Since the morning it was difficult to read the news. To go on the court is extremely is tough," she added.

Russia rained missiles down on cities across Ukraine in broad daylight, killing at least 36 civilians and badly damaging the hospital in the deadliest air strike in months, officials said.

The Russian Defence Ministry said its forces had carried out strikes on defence industry targets and aviation bases in Ukraine. Moscow has repeatedly denied targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure.

Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina in action during her fourth round match against Russia's Anna Kalinskaya

Former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina reached the quarter-finals after ailing Russian 17th seed Anna Kalinskaya retired from their clash with a suspected right forearm injury while trailing 6-3 3-0 on Monday.

Big-hitting Rybakina, who came into the match as the only woman remaining in the decimated draw to have lifted the Venus Rosewater Dish, found herself an early break down but the 2022 champion settled her nerves quickly to reel off the games.

The fourth seed is the also the highest-ranked player left in this year's tournament but said she faced no added pressure heading into the business end.

"Every opponent is difficult and I know that I must always bring my best. That's what I try to do form every match," said Rybakina, who will face 21st seed Elina Svitolina in the last eight.

"I'm just really enjoying every time I step out on the court and I'm happy I'm going fine in the draw.

"Hopefully I can go to the end."

The Moscow-born Kazakh broke back before drawing level at 3-3 when Kalinskaya began to struggle with a forearm problem that she had treated after losing another game.

Kalinskaya appeared to have overcome the problem, much to the relief of her boyfriend and world number one Jannik Sinner who was watching on from the Centre Court stands, but she was unable to prevent Rybakina from winning the first set.

"My serve helps me a lot and especially when the roof is closed there is no wind, no conditions and it's perfect for my game," Rybakina said.

"I'm really happy the way I played the last two matches. I really enjoyed my time here."

The 25-year-old saved a breakpoint with a powerful ace and consolidated a break in the second set for a 2-0 lead, but the problems returned for Kalinskaya.

She dropped another game to go a double break down before throwing in the towel and walking off disappointed.

"It's definitely not the way I wanted to finish the match," Rybakina said.

"She's a great player and I know she was suffering with a couple of injuries. If it's the wrist it's difficult to continue to play and I just wish her a speedy recovery."

Lorenzo Musetti

IMAGE: Italy's Lorenzo Musetti celebrates winning his fourth round match against France's Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard. Photograph: Hannah Mckay/Reuters

Italian Lorenzo Musetti turned party pooper as he ended the dream run of big-serving Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard on the Frenchman's 21st birthday at Wimbledon on Monday.

Musetti, the 25th seed, lost the opening set on Court Two but showed his extra quality to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 and reach the quarter-final of a Grand Slam for the first time.

Armed with a formidable serve, Mpetshi Perricard had taken full advantage of being a lucky loser from qualifying to advance to the second week on his Wimbledon main draw debut.

In the first round he banged down 51 aces during his defeat of 20th seed Sebastian Korda and had already gone into treble figures ahead of his clash with Musetti.

Lorenzo Musetti

IMAGE: Lorenzo Musetti shakes hands with Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard. Photograph: Hannah Mckay/Reuters

His 140mph weapon was working well in the opening set against Musetti but when he began to tire the Italian took full advantage to emerge victorious.

"It's such a big day for me and I'm really happy and proud of this win against a tough opponent," Musetti said.

 

"I struggled a little at the beginning against a big serve. I'm a little bit shaking still but at the end it's a really phenomenal day for me."

Mpetshi Perricard, who looks destined for bigger things after breaking into the world's top 100 in May, fired 10 aces against Musetti but was still broken five times by the 22-year-old.

While his fairytale run is over, Mpetshi Perricard leads the aces charts with 115 for the tournament - a total unlikely to surpassed this year.

Musetti will play either fourth seed Alexander Zverev or 13th seed Taylor Fritz in the quarter-finals.

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