Taylor Fritz came from two sets down to beat Alexander Zverev and bury the memory of his last match on Centre Court.
American 13th seed Fritz sealed his place in the Wimbledon quarter-finals with an epic 4-6 6-7 (4) 6-4 7-6 (3) 6-3 victory in three hours and 29 minutes. The last time Fritz played on Centre Court, in 2022, he came out on the wrong side of a five-set quarter-final against Rafael Nadal.
It was a defeat that left Fritz in tears for weeks afterwards, but it also turned out to be Nadal’s last appearance in SW19, as such was the intensity of the match the Spaniard aggravated an injury which forced him to withdraw from the semi-final.
Fritz should have feared more heartbreak when he slipped two sets behind to fourth seed Zverev, a player who had yet to drop his serve all week.
But the 26-year-old refused to lie down and somehow dug deep to conjure up a famous victory.
“It was amazing to do that on Centre Court, being two sets down is like, it’s a dream,” he said.
“The thing was I feel like I was still playing really well, I thought it sucked to be playing this well and lose in three straight, so I took it one set at a time.
“It was just a couple of points either way so I felt I could take it one set at a time and turn it around.”
Zverev was wearing a knee support having suffered a heavy fall during his third-round win over Cameron Norrie.
But on the server’s paradise that is Centre Court with the roof closed, long rallies were never going to be an issue as long as he kept booming down 217km/h missiles.
In fact, the break point that Fritz forced early in the third set was the first Zverev had faced since last Tuesday.
That was quickly snuffed out, but when Fritz fashioned two more at 4-4, a Zverev double-fault finally gave the world number 12 a way back into the match.
It proved to be the turning point as the fourth set tie-break went Fritz’s way and then he broke early in the decider before celebrating match point, wide-eyed with his arms outstretched. Fritz will next face Italian 25th seed Lorenzo Musetti, who is in his first grand slam quarter-final.
Meanwhile, Elina Svitolina broke down in tears on court after reaching the Wimbledon quarter-finals on the same day a Russian missile struck a children’s hospital in Kyiv.
The Ukrainian wore a black ribbon on her top during her 6-2 6-1 victory over Wang Xinyu and any feelings of satisfaction were dwarfed by sadness at the ongoing horrors in her home country.
Svitolina had to pause during her on-court interview as the emotions overwhelmed her, with at least 31 people killed in attacks across Ukraine.
Writing on Instagram, Svitolina described it as one of the most difficult matches of her life, saying: “Wimbledon has become black for me today.”
“It’s an incredibly sad day today for all Ukrainians,” added the 29-year-old in her press conference. “It was really difficult for me to really be here in a way and do anything. I just wanted to be in my room, just be there with my emotions, with everything.
“It’s difficult really to explain, I guess, because, of course, for us Ukrainians, it’s very close to our heart and a very sensitive topic, very sensitive emotions that we feel every single day.
“But today was one of the days where it was even more difficult because the missile landed on the hospital, the kids’ hospital. Straight away you see the images and everything that happened there. So many kids lost their lives. It’s an extremely tough day today.”
Svitolina admitted she feels guilty when she celebrates achievements on the court or experiences happiness in her life, and her motivation against Wang was to provide some good news for Ukrainians.
“I think for many Ukrainians they will share this feeling with me,” she said. “We feel guilt that we feel happy or that we feel good. Not only because I’m in the quarter-final of the grand slam, but in everything.
“At least with my win today, it was a small light that brought a happy moment for Ukrainian people. I got so many messages today. The people are thankful for my performance, for my win today. Of course, it brings me a lot of, let’s say, joy in a way on this sad day.”
Svitolina went on an emotional run to the semi-finals here last year and is looking for a repeat but, if she is to achieve that, she must beat fourth seed and title favourite Elena Rybakina.
The 25-year-old, who switched from representing Russia to Kazakhstan six years ago, is bidding to lift the trophy for the second time in three years.
Svitolina refuses to shake hands with Russian and Belarusian players at the end of matches but will have no problem doing so with Rybakina, saying: “She changed her nationality, so it means she doesn’t want to represent her original country, so it works.”
Rybakina has seen her fellow title favourites fall around her but she had an easy passage through to the last eight after Anna Kalinskaya retired with a wrist injury trailing 6-3 3-0.
The Russian, watched by boyfriend Jannik Sinner, had led 3-1 but took a medical timeout after the seventh game before eventually pulling the plug.
Rybakina is the highest seed left and the only player to have previously made the final here, while she has now won 18 of her 20 matches at Wimbledon.
