Wimbledon run has 'fuelled the fire' – Raducanu
Britain’s Emma Raducanu says a string of encouraging performances at Wimbledon have made her “hungry” to continue moving up the rankings.
Britain’s Emma Raducanu says a string of encouraging performances at Wimbledon have made her “hungry” to continue moving up the rankings.
Emma Raducanu is out of Wimbledon after being hampered by a back injury in the deciding set of her fourth-round match against Lulu Sun.
Christopher Eubanks and Evan King headlined a day of doubles upsets Sunday at Wimbledon, where they ousted sixth seeds Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-3, 7-6(3) to reach the third round.
Alternates Eubanks and King played their first tour-level event as a team at Roland Garros, where they advanced to the second round. They will next face ninth seeds Neal Skupski and Michael Venus, who clawed past Rinky Hijikata and John Peers 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-4. Skupski won the title last year with Wesley Koolhof.
Koolhof will not lift the trophy two years in a row. Home wild cards Charles Broom and Arthur Fery ousted seventh seeds Koolhof and Nikola Mektic 7-6(4), 7-6(5).
[ATP APP]There was another upset when Andreas Mies and John-Patrick Smith upset third seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Smith had made the second round at The Championships six times, but never advanced further. Now the Australian and partner Mies will play 15th seeds Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson.
“It’s good to actually finally break that hump there and make it another round deeper,” Smith said. “Obviously a great quality team, two guys who are multiple Slam champions and it doesn’t get any easier in the next one with Aussie boys, who obviously play really well on the grass.”
In other action 11th seeds Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni eliminated Tomas Machac and Zhang Zhizhen 7-6(4), 6-4 and Mackenzie McDonald and Ben Shelton completed a 6-2, 6-7(3), 6-4 victory against Flavio Cobolli and Lorenzo Sonego.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Coco Gauff becomes the latest high-profile seed to suffer a shock exit in the women’s singles at Wimbledon, while Jasmine Paolini goes through.
Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz earned victory against Frenchman Ugo Humbert on Sunday at Wimbledon. In two days, Spain will face France in the semi-finals at the European Championships in Germany.
Alcaraz watched Spain’s quarter-final victory against Germany in the locker room following his win against Frances Tiafoe on Friday and the 21-year-old is excited to give his country his full backing from west London once again.
“I have a really good relationship with a few players in the team. In particular, Alvaro Morata. He’s a really good friend,” said Alcaraz, who is scheduled to face Tommy Paul or Roberto Bautista Agut on Tuesday at SW19. “I support them. [The Euros] is every four years, so right now it’s time to support them, as I know they support me when I’m playing matches or I’m playing tournaments. It’s my turn.
“Hopefully on Tuesday we are not going to play at the same time. But let’s see. Hopefully I will be able to see a little bit from the match.”
On court against Humbert, Alcaraz produced moments of magic and he will be hoping Spain produces similarly against France. On set point in the second set, the third seed lost his footing mid-way through the point, but somehow regained control to scamper around the court and clinch the set.
Smiling, Alcaraz recalled playing a similar point against Jannik Sinner en route to the title at the US Open in 2022.
“The last time I remember that I fell down and recovered and won the point at the end was against Sinner at the US Open. I remember that I fell down, recovered and made a passing shot. That is the last time I remember that I got a point like this one,” Alcaraz said.
“As I said on the court, that’s myself fighting for every ball. I think that I can reach every ball. It doesn’t matter the shot, the opponent hit or the place that I’m on the court. I just think that I’m going to get it, I’m going to hit another good shot or a passing shot, believing that I’m going to get the point.”
[ATP APP]Alcaraz, who holds a 15-2 record at Wimbledon and is chasing his fourth major title, has played his past two matches at The Championships under the Centre Court roof due to rain in west London.
Alcaraz is pleased with how he has coped with the change of conditions.
“I’m not used to playing indoors, I’m not going to lie. But I don’t consider myself a bad player indoors. I just think that are a lot of players better than me,” Alcaraz said. “I would prefer to play outdoors. But if the weather is OK and the suns out. Not if it is windy. But if we have to play outdoors or indoors, I have to adapt my game with the conditions that it is.”
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Daniil Medvedev returned to the quarter-finals at Wimbledon on Sunday when Grigor Dimitrov was forced to retire while trailing 3-5 in the first set.
The Bulgarian slipped at 2-3 in the first set before he received a medical timeout for a knee issue. He continued on for three more games before eventually stopping after 35 minutes on No. 1 Court.
Medvedev reached the semi-finals at the grass-court major in 2023 and has looked impressive in the crucial moments during this year’s event. The fifth seed defeated Alexandre Muller and Jan-Lennard Struff in four sets earlier this week and will next face World No. 1 Jannik Sinner in his biggest challenge so far.
[ATP APP]Medvedev leads the Italian 6-5 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series, but has lost their past five meetings. The 28-year-old is chasing his second major title and first at any tour-level event since Rome last year.
Dimitrov was competing in the fourth round at Wimbledon for the fourth time. His best result came in 2014 when he reached the semi-finals.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Watch as Jannik Sinner hits an “extraordinary” trick shot in the third set of his straight sets victory over Ben Shelton in the round of 16 at Wimbledon.
Jannik Sinner very much looked the part of the No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings on Sunday at Wimbledon.
The Italian dismissed dangerous 14th seed Ben Shelton 6-2, 6-4, 7-6(9) to reach the quarter-finals at The Championships for the third consecutive year. The 22-year-old is the first Italian man in history to make the last eight at Wimbledon three times.
B O O M 🔥
4 set points saved by @janniksin as he downs Shelton to book his place into the quarter-finals!<a href=”https://twitter.com/Wimbledon?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@Wimbledon | <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Wimbledon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/qUNl0wgwlk
— ATP Tour (@atptour) July 7, 2024
Sinner had to work hard in his first two matches (both four-setters), especially in a second-round blockbuster against countryman Matteo Berrettini, who pushed him to a fourth-set tie-break. He has not lost a set in two matches since.
The top seed needed to be sharp against Shelton, who loves competing on the biggest stages against the top players. Last year in October the American defeated the Italian in a final-set tie-break. It was not outlandish to think Shelton could cause problems for this year’s Australian Open champion with his booming serve on the No. 1 Court grass.
But for the most part, Sinner neutralised Shelton’s serve. The 14th seed only won 70 per cent of his first-serve points and lost four service games in the two-hour, eight-minute match.
Shelton entered the encounter having played every day of the tournament due to rain, and he played the maximum 15 sets through three matches. Sinner critically was able to dominate rallies of zero to four shots by an 81-62 margin and pushed his opponent well behind the baseline during many rallies.
[ATP APP]Shelton is at his best when he is dictating off his serve and controlling the action. But Sinner, who is now 42-3 on the season, did well to control how the match would be played.
As the match wore on, the 21-year-old Shelton clawed his way into the fourth-round clash and broke the Italian’s serve early in the third set.
After retrieving the break, Sinner thrilled the crowd at 4-5, 40/30 in the third set with an improvised forward-facing tweener half-volley off a perfect return from Shelton. The Italian eventually won the point with a forehand passing shot and both players could not help but smile.
“That was just luck! There’s nothing to talk. I don’t know. Sometimes… I don’t know what to say, honestly!”
Shelton earned three set points in the third-set tie-break, but was unable to keep alive his hopes of reaching a maiden Wimbledon quarter-final. Of those three chances, the former University of Florida standout’s best opportunity came at 6/5, when he tried to put away an inside-out forehand and missed wide.
Sinner, who now leads Shelton 3-1 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series, will play fifth seed Daniil Medvedev or 10th seed Grigor Dimitrov in the quarter-finals.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Watch as Jasmine Paolini plays a stunning backhand volley in the second set against Madison Keys in the last 16 at Wimbledon.
When Carlos Alcaraz put the finishing touches on his comeback against Frances Tiafoe in the third round of Wimbledon, stopping the clock at three hours and 50 minutes, the match statistics showed that the Spaniard had reeled off 16 aces, with a fastest serve of 135mph and a serving average of 116mph during the encounter. The upshot of these numbers is clear, the 21-year-old has made significant progress in his delivery.
“It’s something I’ve improved quite a lot,” celebrated Alcaraz after claiming his win over the American. “It’s been on my to-do list for many years: Trying to improve my serve.”
Against Tiafoe, in a clash that was replete with nail-biting moments, Alcaraz’s serve was a lifeline. It was a weapon he turned to when he found himself in a hole, such as to save a 0/30 at 4-4 in the fourth set, when his opponent was enjoying a 2-1 lead in sets.
“In situations like today’s I had to try and get points from my serve,” explained Alcaraz. “I had to make it significant, a key part of my game, at difficult moments. The first day, I didn’t serve well, but it’s been improving. The second round was much better and today, at key moments, my serve saved me from a lot of trouble. On grass, it’s even more important than on other surfaces. I’m happy to see we’ve improved it, and that we’ll continue to improve it.”
[ATP APP]Alcaraz is a player who has constantly evolved since bursting onto the ATP Tour, where he has enjoyed astonishing success, claiming three Grand Slam titles (US Open 2022, Wimbledon 2023, Roland Garros 2024) and becoming No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings in 2022.
After identifying the potential for improvement in his serve, under the tutelage of his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero, Alcaraz has been looking for ways to make the opening shot one of the most potent in his arsenal, above all on surfaces like grass, where the opening shot of a rally takes on the utmost importance.</p
Therefore, before the clay swing, Ferrero made an important decision; to make a significant change in the biomechanics of Alcaraz’s serve, changing from two pauses to one when he pulls his racket back in order to improve the Murcia native’s rhythm when putting the ball into motion.
This new technique, which caught his opponents off-guard at Roland Garros, where Alcaraz claimed his first Coupe des Mousquetaires, is also proving to be highly effective at Wimbledon, as he proved on Friday against Tiafoe.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]