Felix Auger Aliassime celebrates his win against Alexander Zverev in the fourth round of the Gentlemen’s Singles on court 1 on day seven of Wimbledon at The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, Wimbledon. Picture date: Monday July 5, 2021. (Photo by Steven Paston/PA Images via Getty Images)
(July 5, 2021) “Manic Monday” at Wimbledon saw former major champions advance to the quarterfinals. Winners included top seeds Novak Djokovic and Ash Barty as well as No. 6 Roger Federer, No. 7 Mateo Berrettini, No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, and No. 8 Karolina Pliskova.
In what he called “the best victory of my life,” No. 16 Felix Auger-Aliassime notched the biggest match win of his career by beating No. 4 Alexander Zverev 6-4, 7-6 (6), 3-6, 3-6, 6-4 in the fourth round. For the Canadian, it was his first twin over the German and first five-set win of his career.
“It’s unbelievable,” Auger-Aliassime said in his on-court interview. “I’m a normal guy from Montreal, Canada, and here I am. Surely the best victory of my life.”
Auger-Aliassime will play the No. 7 seed Matteo Berrettini for a place in the semifinals. The Italian beat Ilya Ivashka 6-4, 6-3, 6-1.
Auger-Aliassime now joins his countryman No. 10 Denis Shapovalov in the quarterfinals. Shapovalov bested No.8 Roberto Bautista Agut 6-1, 6-3, 7-5. The 10th seed will face off against Karen Khachanov for a final four spot. Khachanov survived a five-set battle with young American Sebastian Korda in which the fifth set had 13 breaks of serve in the 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 5-7, 10-8 win.
“I’m still super happy with how the whole tournament and today was,” Korda said despite the loss coming on his 21st birthday.. “I fought my hardest. I don’t know what was happening out there. We just couldn’t hold serve.”
No. 1 Novak Djokovic, in search of his 20th major made easy work of Cristian Garin of Chile 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 on Centre Court. The Serb has now reached his 50th major tournament elite eight.
“Today was a very solid performance from the first to last point” Djokovic said. “I was mentally present. I was serving much better, using the court well.
“Cristian played for his first time on Centre Court. You could see he was nervous, making a lot of unforced errors at the beginning of the match, which gave me an opportunity to win first set comfortably.”
Eight-time champion Roger Federer is now the oldest man in the Open Era to make the Wimbledon quarterfinals, just a month short of his 40th birthday, beating the 23rd seed Lorenzo Sonego 7-5, 6-4, 6-2. For the Swiss, it will be his 18th quarterfinal at Wimbledon.
His opponent will be decided on Tuesday as the match between No. 2 Daniil Medvedev and No. 18 had their match suspended due to rain on Court No. 2 with Medvedev leading 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-3, 3-4.
In women’s action, it was a battle between French Open champions as No. 1 Ash Barty of Australia ended Barbora Krejcikova’s 15-match winning streak 7-5, 6-3 on No. 1 court.
No. 21 seed Ons Jabeur became the first Arab woman and North African woman to earn a spot in a Wimbledon quarterfinal when she beat No. 7 seed and 2020 French Open champion Iga Swiatek 5-7, 6-1, 6-1.
Jabeur, from Tunisia also reached the final 8 at last year’s Australian Open.
“Tunisians are everywhere, I’ve got to say,” Jabeur said after the match after hearing fans serenading her. “They were singing a football song. I felt the need to sing with them.”
Angelique Kerber ended 17-year-old Coco Gauff’s fortnight at Wimbledon 6-4, 6-4. The German, seeded 25 is lone former champion in the women’s draw.
“It’s never easy to play against someone who you never played, especially against someone like Coco.,” Kerber said. She is really a young player who I think has a really nice and great future and career in front of her.”
No. 23 seed Madison Keys fell to unseeded Swiss Viktorija Golubic 7-6 (3), 6-3. With Keys and Gauff losing, no American women remain in the women’s singles draw.
Another major men’s upset came from Marton Fucsovics. He became the first Hungarian man to reach the Wimbledon final 8 since 1948 when he toppled No. 5 seed Andrey Rublev 6-3, 4-6, 4-6,6-0, 6-3. He’ll play No. 1 seed and two-time defending champion Djokovic next.
Also reaching the quarterfinals were No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka and No. 8 Karolina Pliskova. Sabalenka reached her first major quarterfinal by beating Elena Rybakina 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. Pliskova beat Liudmila Samsonova 6-2, 6-3.
In the last completed match of the day, British teenager Emma Raducanu retired from her fourth-round match against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic trailing 6-4, 3-0 due to difficulty breathing. Tomljanovic will face top seed Ash Barty in an all-Aussie quarterfinal.
