Painful finish as De Minaur reaches first Wimbledon quarter-final

LONDON: Australia’s Alex de Minaur reached his first Wimbledon quarter-final on Monday with a four-set win over Arthur Fils of France although he ended the match grimacing with pain.

World number nine De Minaur won 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 and will face Novak Djokovic for a place in the semi-finals if the seven-time champion defeats Holger Rune later Monday. De Minaur appeared to roll his ankle as he played the winning shot on Court One and walked gingerly back to his courtside chair.

As he sat down, he shook his head towards his box, where 2002 Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt, a fellow Australian, and tennis-playing girlfriend Katie Boulter looked on. “I’ll be all right,” De Minaur said in his on-court interview. “I’m super-proud to play in front of you guys. I had a few problems getting over the finish line and made it harder than it should have been.”

World number 34 Fils, playing in the fourth round of a Slam for the first time, was undone by 66 unforced errors. De Minaur has defeated both Djokovic and Rune in his career. He got the better of the 24-time Grand Slam title winner at the United Cup in Australia this year while seeing off Rune twice in 2023, including on grass at Queen’s Club.

“I’ll try my best and play my heart out,” said De Minaur, who is a force to be reckoned with on grass having clinched the ‘s-Hertogenbosch title in the Netherlands last month. Musetti tames giant Mpetshi Perricard to reach Wimbledon quarters

Lorenzo Musetti tamed big-serving Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 on Monday to reach his first Grand Slam quarter-final. The Italian 25th seed, who showed his prowess on grass by reaching the final last month at Queen’s, broke the French lucky loser five times on Court No. 2.

Mpetshi Perricard, Wimbledon’s ace leader with 115 aces, was rock-solid on serve in the first set, taking it with a single break, but stumbled towards the end of the second set, allowing Musetti to level.

An early break for the Italian in the third set put him in the driving seat and the Frenchman ran out of steam. Musetti hit a total of 23 winners against just eight unforced errors, compared to his opponent’s tally of 42 unforced errors.

“It’s tough for me to get emotional but I think today I will,” he said. “I’ve been dreaming of this moment since I was a kid. “It’s such a big day for me and I’m really happy and proud of this win against a tough opponent. I struggled a little at the beginning against a big serve. I’m a little bit shaking still but at the end it’s a really phenomenal day for me.”