World number one Polish tennis player, Iga Swiatek, narrowly avoided an early exit from the Wimbledon Championship, as she advanced to the quarterfinals with a hard-fought victory over 14th seed Swiss player Belinda Bencic. Swiatek won 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 in three hours and three minutes on Sunday in the fourth round.
The reigning Roland Garros champion of 2020, 2022, and 2023, as well as the 2022 Flushing Meadows champion, reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the first time in her professional career. She will face the 76th-ranked Ukrainian player, Elina Svitolina, who defeated the 20th seed Belarusian player Victoria Azarenka 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (11-9).
The match was evenly contested in the first six sets, leading to a tiebreaker that Bencic won 7-4 in 66 minutes. This was the first set Swiatek lost in this year's edition.
Swiatek started the second set by breaking Bencic's serve and took a 2-0 lead, but the Swiss player managed to level the score at 3-3 in the sixth set. Bencic had two opportunities to win the set and the match in her favor in the twelfth set, but Swiatek saved them both and equalized the score at 6-6.
The two players then went to a second tiebreaker, which Swiatek won 7-2, clinching the second set 7-6 in 68 minutes. In the decisive set, Swiatek broke Bencic's serve in the fourth set and took a 3-1, 4-1, and 5-2 lead before winning it 6-3 in 49 minutes.
This marks Swiatek's fourth victory over Bencic in their five encounters so far.
The 22-year-old Polish player said, 'Did I get a match point? I don't know, even after saving a match point.'
She added, 'In these moments, you have to try to play without too much fear because generally, the person who has the match point in their favor is the one who feels the most pressure.'
In a similar vein, the fourth-seeded American player Jessica Pegula reached the quarterfinals for the first time in her career with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Ukrainian player Lesia Tsurenko in 75 minutes.
Pegula's best previous result on the London grass was reaching the third round last year.
Pegula, 29, has not reached the semifinals in any of the four Grand Slam tournaments in her career and hopes to achieve that when she faces the Czech player Marketa Vondrousova, who also reached her first Wimbledon quarterfinals with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory over her compatriot Marie Bouzkova.
This will be Vondrousova's first appearance in a Grand Slam quarterfinal since finishing as the runner-up to Australia's Ashleigh Barty in the 2019 Roland Garros final.
This is her second-best result in the Grand Slam tournaments, as she has not advanced beyond the round of 16 in both the Australian Open and the US Open.
Vondrousova has now extended her head-to-head record against her opponent, who is ranked 33rd in the world, to 3-1.
Andreeva Continues -
Russian teenager Mira Andreeva (16 years old) continued her rise in professional competitions and reached the fourth round in only her second appearance in a Grand Slam tournament.
Andreeva (102nd in the world), who qualified for the main draw, defeated her compatriot Anastasia Potapova (23rd in the world) 6-2, 7-5 after coming back from a 1-4 deficit in the second set.
After her victory, the player who eliminated Roland Garros 2021 champion, Czech Barbora Krejcikova, in the previous round, said, 'Even if I wanted to show my emotions, I am not able to do so because my mind shuts down at every point.'
Andreeva, who reached the third round at Roland Garros this year, will next face American player Madison Keys.
She will now rise to at least 65th place after Wimbledon, but she expressed her aspirations to be in the locker room reserved for top-ranked players next year.
In a joking response to a question about facing the top players, she said, 'I hope to be in the locker room on the top floor next year.'
Rublev Awaits Djokovic -
In the men's category, Russian player Andrey Rublev, ranked 7th in the world, secured his spot in the quarterfinals with a tough victory over 26th-seeded Kazakh player Alexander Bublik, winning 7-5, 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 in three hours and 17 minutes.
Rublev, 25 years old, who was unable to participate in Wimbledon last year due to the war waged by his country against Ukraine, will face either Serbian player Novak Djokovic, the second seed and four-time defending champion, or the 18th seed Polish player Hubert Hurkacz in the quarterfinals.
The match between the defending champion, who aims to win his eighth title at the tournament, and Hurkacz was halted after the completion of the second set due to the rule prohibiting play after 11 p.m. (10 p.m. GMT).
The Serbian player won the first two sets with the same scoreline, 7-6 (8-6).
The first set ended in a tiebreaker, with the players evenly matched until the second set tiebreaker, which they tied at 3-3. The Polish player then won three consecutive points to take a 6-3 lead, but Djokovic responded by winning five consecutive points, securing an 8-6 victory and winning the set 7-6 in 46 minutes.
The second set followed the same scenario, with the players tied at 6-6 until the second set tiebreaker, which Djokovic won 8-6, clinching the set 7-6 in 59 minutes.
The Italian player Jannik Sinner, ranked 8th, reached the quarterfinals with a 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, 6-3 victory over Colombian player Daniel Galan. Their match was suspended on Saturday due to rain and darkness.
Sinner will face Russian player Roman Safiullin, who defeated the 26th-seeded Canadian player Denis Shapovalov 3-6, 6-3, 6-1, 6-3.
The Bulgarian player Grigor Dimitrov, ranked 24th, advanced to the fourth round with a 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 victory over the 10th-seeded American player Francis Tiafoe in a match that was completed on Sundayincompletion on Saturday due to rain and darkness. He will next meet Danish player Holger Rune, ranked 6th in the world.
Dimitrov reached the Wimbledon semifinals in 2014 but has only reached the fourth round once since then, in 2017, where his journey ended at that stage.
AFP