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Fritz rallies to stun Zverev for spot in Wimbledon QFs

  • Posted: Jul 08, 2024

Taylor Fritz on Monday earned one of the most stunning victories of Wimbledon.

The 13th seed rallied from two sets down to shock fourth seed Alexander Zverev 4-6, 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(3), 6-3 for a spot in the quarter-finals of The Championships. The American will face 25th seed Lorenzo Musetti for a place in the semi-finals.

“It was amazing to do that on Centre Court from two sets down,” Fritz said. “I thought it would really suck to be playing this well and to lose in three straight. I had the belief. I thought I was playing really good tennis… and that it was just a couple of points here and there. I thought I could take it one set at a time and turn it around.”

It marked the third time the American has battled back from two sets down and emerged victorious. Fittingly, the first player Fritz achieved the feat against was Zverev’s older brother, Mischa Zverev (R1, 2018 US Open), who was in the Centre Court players’ box cheering on ‘Sascha’.

Zverev entered the match in imperious serving form having not lost serve through three matches. With plenty of confidence after his run to the Roland Garros final, he did not face a break point in the second round against Marcos Giron or the third round against Cameron Norrie.

But when the two-time Nitto ATP Finals champion double faulted at 4-4 in the third set to relinquish his first service break of the tournament, the tenor of the match changed. Fritz had been holding his own, but he grew in confidence as the match wore on and raised his level to triumph after hours and 29 minutes. Zverev now leads Fritz 5-4 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series, including 2-1 at The Championships.

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Zverev walked on Centre Court wearing a gray knee sleeve on his left knee after overextending it during his third-round victory against home favourite Norrie. The sleeve appeared similar to the one seven-time Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic has been wearing following the Serbian’s surgery to repair a torn meniscus. The fourth seed revealed the nature of his injury after the match.

“I have a bone edema in my knee, then I have also a tear in my capsule in my knee. That came from the fall. That came from the match against Norrie,” Zverev said. “So it is quite painful for that period of time. It is nothing that I need surgery on. It is nothing that doesn’t heal by itself. It just needs time.”

But Zverev, who was trying to reach his first quarter-final at SW19, did not show many signs of struggling with movement for most of the match. More glaringly, Fritz played a nearly flawless final three sets to surge past the German and into his second Wimbledon quarter-final in three years.

The 26-year-old hit 67 winners to just 23 unforced errors, and delivered 15 aces in the match. He won 69 per cent of his second-serve points compared to just 47 per cent for Zverev.

The American will next take on 25th seed Lorenzo Musetti, against whom he owns a 2-1 Lexus ATP Head2Head advantage. Musetti, a first-time major quarter-finalist, defeated Fritz 6-4, 6-4 earlier this year on clay in Monte-Carlo.

“It’s going to be a tough match. He’s had a really good grass-court season,” Fritz said. “It’s my second time in the quarter-finals, but this time it feels like I’ve earned it a lot more, so I’m really excited for the chance.”

Fritz has won eight consecutive grass-court matches dating back to the start of the Rothesay International in Eastbourne. The eight-time ATP Tour titlist has claimed three of his crowns on grass, all in Eastbourne.

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Musetti reaches first major QF, De Minaur advances

  • Posted: Jul 08, 2024

Lorenzo Musetti is a Grand Slam quarter-finalist.

The Italian reached the last eight at a major for the first time on Monday at Wimbledon, where he ended the run of French lucky loser Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 victory.

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.

The Lyon champion was unable to fire at his best level against Musetti in the pair’s first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting. The 25th seed broke Mpetshi Perricard’s serve five times and was the more consistent in the baseline exchanges, committing just eight unforced errors compared to 42 from his opponent.

“It is tough for me to get emotional but today I think I will,” Musetti said. “I have been dreaming about this moment since I was a kid. I always had a really beautiful family who always supported me in chasing my dream.”

With his two-hour, five-minute win on No. 2 Court, Musetti joined World No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the quarter-finals. It is the first time in history that multiple Italian men have reached the last eight at SW19, with Musetti becoming just the seventh Italian man in history to advance to that stage.

The 22-year-old will next face Alexander Zverev or Taylor Fritz on Wednesday.

The 6’8” Mpetshi Perricard, who hit several serves above 145mph during his run, was aiming to become the first lucky loser to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final. He is up 14 spots to No. 44 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings.

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On No. 1 Court, Australian Alex de Minaur advanced to the quarter-finals at Wimbledon for the first time when he downed #NextGenATP Frenchman Arthur Fils 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in an entertaining clash.

The ninth seed produced an intense performance to outlast Fils, scampering around the court to hang in points 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.

“I will be alright, I will find a way,” De Minaur said when asked if he hurt his ankle when stretching to hit a volley on match point. “I made it a lot harder than I should have but happy to get through. It was a great job mentally to get through it, even though I couldn’t serve out at the end. I just back my return and very happy with that and now onto the next.”

De Minaur has reached consecutive major quarter-finals, having fallen to Alexander Zverev in the last eight at Roland Garros. He will aim to go one step further and reach his first Grand Slam semi-final when he takes on Novak Djokovic or Holger Rune on Wednesday.

Last month, De Minaur won his second grass-court tour-level title in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. With his run to the quarters in west London, he has climbed one spot to sixth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin. The Australian is aiming to make his debut at the Nitto ATP Finals in November.

Fils was competing in the fourth round at a major for the first time. The World No. 34 moved past Dominic Stricker and Hubert Hurkacz before he survived in five sets against Roman Safiullin.

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Skupski's journey from getting Federer & Nadal's autographs to shining bright at Wimbledon

  • Posted: Jul 08, 2024

At the 2001 Wimbledon boys’ singles event, Ken Skupski qualified and advanced to the quarter-finals of the main draw, a run that featured a victory against Robin Soderling. While the 18-year-old Briton was making a name for himself at the grass-court major, his 11-year-old brother, Neal Skupski, was autograph hunting.

“When I wasn’t watching Ken, I would be standing at Aorangi waiting for autographs the whole time, all day,” Neal told ATPTour.com. “[My] best autograph? Roger Federer. I’ve still got the books. I’ve got like a flipbook probably the size of a credential and it’s full of just old tennis players, guys that I didn’t know were going to be very good like Roger Federer, Djokovic. I’ve gotten Nadal. And then I’ve got some of the greats like Lleyton Hewitt. I’ve got Stan Smith in there, McEnroe, Navratilova. So it was time well spent out at Aorangi.”

Now Neal is one of the players kids seek out for autographs. In 2021 and 2022, two decades on from his glory days as an autograph hunter, Skupski claimed mixed doubles glory at The All England Club. Last year, he triumphed in men’s doubles alongside Wesley Koolhof.

“I’d hope to think I haven’t changed one bit. Obviously for me, it’s a nice thing to kind of be men’s doubles champion at Wimbledon,” Neal said. “I see my name on the board, which is an amazing thing for the rest of my life. But anybody that knows me, family, friends, nothing’s changed. I’m still normal Neal.”

Skupski never competed in the juniors at Wimbledon like his older brother. But the venue is still where Neal’s love of the sport came to life.

“He seemed to just go off on his own and just take a pen in his hand and his autograph book, and he’d be so proud to come back when he’d got names that you look at the name on the piece of paper, and you wouldn’t have a clue who it was,” Ken recalled. “But he’d seemed to know whether it was Lindsay Davenport, or Hingis, or all these different players. For both of us, we both had an upbringing playing a lot of club doubles. So he was more than happy to get some of the autographs of players that the average kid that would go and get autographs wouldn’t potentially ask for but he’d be looking for the Bryan brothers, Bhupathi, Knowles, Nestor, all the top guys at the time.”

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Neither Skupski was a world-beating prospect. Ken played the Wimbledon main draw once, but had to qualify to do so. They both played college tennis at Louisiana State University and went on to enjoy great success as professionals.

Ken, who is now retired, climbed as high as No. 44 in the PIF ATP Doubles Rankings and claimed seven ATP Tour titles, including three with Neal.

The younger Skupski brother has reached World No. 1 and earned 17 tour-level titles. He is partnering Michael Venus, another former LSU competitor, this fortnight at Wimbledon in an attempt to claim more glory.

“Our parents have both given us an opportunity to sort of go far in this life of tennis and I think we’ve done a pretty good job of doing something about it and making the most of it,” Ken said. “But overall I can’t say how proud I am as a big brother of all the things he’s achieved and the part that I’ve played in nurturing him to give him the best opportunity because I think he’s gone above and beyond what I expected of him. But now he’s here and he’s doing what he’s doing and I still believe that there’s more in him.”

Ken today serves as Neal’s coach. The older brother admitted that he was not always expecting Neal to enjoy quite as much success as he has.

“I was very lucky to play with him and I cherish that greatly,” Ken said. “But to turn himself into the champion that he is… He’s gone above and beyond what everybody I think expects of him. And if he walked away from the game, now, I think everybody would be super proud. But he is super determined, he is super disciplined, he is as good a professional as he can be to give himself the best chance of being successful.”

According to Neal, it is “a bit strange” that he is not defending his title with Koolhof. But he is as eager as ever to earn more hardware. Skupski and Venus, who have already won titles this grass-court season at Queen’s Club and Eastbourne, are into the third round at SW19.

“I’m still as motivated as last year to try and go well. I’ve known Mike since the college times at LSU. We were teammates. He was a senior, I was a freshman. We played my first year together, we got to I think number two or three in the country in the NCAAs. So that’s where it all started back then down in Baton Rouge, and we’ve stayed good friends ever since,” Neal said. “That’s probably the reason why it’s been so smooth. As a tandem, we played once before in Washington made the final in the 500, but we haven’t played since. It’s never really come together.

“In the past, maybe we’ve wanted to play together, but it just hasn’t worked out because of the partners that we’ve had. But really enjoyed playing on the grass with Mike. We didn’t do so well in Stuttgart, we lost first round. But we went on to win Queen’s and Eastbourne. Let’s see what happens here, take it one match at a time. Looking forward to the rest of our time together.”

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Eubanks & King spring upset in day of doubles surprises at Wimbledon

  • Posted: Jul 07, 2024

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).

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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.

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