Wimbledon 2024: Lorenzo Musetti, Svitolina, Rybakina, Alex De Minaur into quarters

London: Lorenzo Musetti of Italy overcame French lucky loser Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in four sets to storm into his maiden quarterfinal of a major and was joined by top Australian Alex De Minaur, who too advanced to the last-eight stage of men’s singles for the first time at Wimbledon 2024 on Monday.

The Italian reached the last eight of men’s singles at a major for the first time at Wimbledon, where he ended the superb run of Perricard with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 victory in a Round of 16 clash at Court No. 2.

Mpetshi Perricard was celebrating his 21st birthday and entered the match high in confidence. The big-serving Frenchman defeated Sebastian Korda, Yoshihito Nishioka, and Emil Ruusuvuori en route to his first fourth-round appearance at a major, hitting 105 aces across his first three matches.

Meanwhile on No. 1 Court, de Minaur advanced to the last-eight stage at Wimbledon for the first time by beating another French player, Arthur Fils 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in an entertaining clash. The ninth seed De Minaur produced an intense performance to outlast Fils, scampering around the court to hang in, before turning the tables with his flat groundstrokes. The 25-year-old recovered from squandering a 4-2 lead in the third set to eventually finish the job in four, avenging his defeat to the 20-year-old in April in Barcelona.

Meanwhile 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. 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. Jelena Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open winner, also advanced to the Wimbledon quarter-finals on Monday after defeating Yulia Putintseva 6-2, 6-3. Putintseva had previously eliminated Iga Swiatek from the tournament.

Throughout the match, Ostapenko, 27, from Latvia, managed to break Putintseva’s serve five times. She struck 29 winners but also committed 26 unforced errors during the encounter. (IANS)

Also Read: Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner reach Wimbledon quarterfinals

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