LONDON: 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 on Monday.

For two-and-a-half sets 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.

“It was amazing to do that on Centre Court, two sets down in front of this crowd. It’s a dream,” Fritz said.

“The thing was I still felt I was playing really well for being down two sets. I was just thinking it sucked to be playing this well and to lose in straights.

“So let’s take the third, I took it one at a time. I had that belief. It was just a couple of points here and there.”

The American, who hit a total of 69 winners against 23 unforced errors, will face Italian 25th seed Lorenzo Musetti in the quarter-finals.

Italian 25th seed Musetti tamed big-serving Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, coming from a set down to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2.

Lucky loser Mpetshi Perricard, celebrating his 21st birthday, had been broken just once in three rounds at Wimbledon but Queen’s finalist Musetti found the key on Court No. 2, breaking five times as his opponent racked up 42 unforced errors.

“It’s tough for me to get emotional but I think today I will,” said the Italian. “I’ve been dreaming of this moment since I was a kid.”

Meanwhile, Australian ninth seed Alex de Minaur, who won the ‘s-Hertogenbosch grass-court tournament last month, prevailed in four sets against France’s Arthur Fils to book a berth in the quarter-finals.

In the women’s draw, Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina broke down in tears after reaching the quarter-finals for a third time with a 6-2, 6-1 win against China’s Wang Xinyu in just 55 minutes.

The 21st seed, wearing a black ribbon on her white shirt, was in action just hours after Russia struck cities across Ukraine in a missile attack that killed 31 people and heavily damaged a Kyiv children’s hospital.

“It’s a very difficult day today for all Ukraine people,” said the 29-year-old Svitolina, who wept as she conducted a TV interview after her victory.

As she attempted to compose herself, she received a lengthy round of applause from spectators on Court Two.

“It was not easy to focus on the match. Since this morning it has been very difficult to read the news and go on court.”

Svitolina will next play Russian-born Kazakh Elena Rybakina, who defeated an injury-hit Anna Kalinskaya 6-3, 3-0.

Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, said she did not feel pressure even though she is the highest-ranking player left in the women’s draw.

“Every opponent is difficult and I know that I must always bring my best and that’s what I try to do every match,” she said.

“I’m just really enjoying every time I step out on the court and I am happy I am going fine in the draw and hopefully I can go to the end.”

Jelena Ostapenko also sped into the quarter-finals with a 6-2, 6-3 win over giant-killer Yulia Putintseva, wrapping up the match under the Court One roof in just over an hour.

The Latvian was merciless in her treatment of Kazakhstan’s 35th-ranked Putintseva, who upset top seed Iga Swiatek in the last round.

It took Putintseva, 29, six games to figure on the scoreboard and she hardly had time to catch her breath before the first set was wrapped up in 24 minutes when she sent a backhand long.

An emotional Putintseva showed her frustration, smacking her head repeatedly with her racket after missing one shot.

She put up more of a fight in the second set but Ostapenko was in no mood for concessions. She thumped down 29 winners in the match and clinched it with a backhand slice that her opponent could not reach.

PAUL SETS UP ALCARAZ SHOWDOWN, GAUFF OUSTED

In Sunday’s late action, US 12th seed Tommy Paul raced against the fading light on Court Two to dispatch Spanish veteran Roberto Bautista Agut 6-2, 7-6(3), 6-2 and set up a quarter-final clash with defending champion Carlos Alcaraz.

While world number two Coco Gauff was sent crashing out of Wimbledon by American compatriot Emma Navarro 6-4, 6-3.

Paul took just over two hours to beat Bautista Agut who was bidding to reach his second Wimbledon quarter-final in his 10th appearance here.

The 27-year old Paul, whose grass game is finely tuned after he won the Queen’s Club warm-up event last month, had just too much power and variety for the 36-year-old, now ranked 112.

Bautista Agut made the American work in the second set but a couple of unforced errors lost him the chance to draw level and Paul raced through the final set, clinching the match with an ace.

A match-up with Alcaraz is likely to be scheduled on Centre Court which has a roof.

“He (Alcaraz) plays amazing tennis on grass but I’m playing pretty good too,” Paul, who is on a nine match winning streak, added.

Meanwhile, absolutely nothing worked for Gauff on Sunday.

Gauff reached the last 16 stage at the All England Club without dropping a set.

But all of that amounted to absolutely zilch as Gauff resembled a lost soul on Centre Court and the torment running through her mind was clear for all to see when she shouted at her coach Brad Gilbert: “Tell me something. You guys aren’t saying anything”.

With Gauff having admitted that she had found herself in “a dark place” following her shock first round exit here 12 months ago, Gilbert stood up in the player’s box and tried to calm her down with some hand gestures and words of wisdom but with Navarro’s game on fire, nothing made a difference.

“We had a game plan going in. I felt that it wasn’t working. I don’t always ask for advice on the box. Today was one of those rare moments where I felt I didn’t have solutions,” summed up a glum Gauff.

Published in Dawn, July 9th, 2024