FIFTH seed Daniil Medvedev managed to overcome a red-hot Jannik Sinner in an epic four-hour Wimbledon quarter final to reach the last four of the grasscourt Grand Slam. The Russian needed to pull out all the tricks against the world number one who was albeit under the weather with illness, eventually winning 6-7 6-4 7-6 2-6 6-3 in a flat four hours.

Having beaten Sinner the first six times he had played the Italian, Medvedev had suffered five consecutive losses to his opponent of late, but was able to snap that on Centre Court. The world number five could tell the world number one was not feeling good, and admitted tongue-in-cheek that he wanted him to “suffer a bit more” from Medvedev’s game, knowing Sinner was capable of regrouping.

“This is my first time winning two matches on the Centre Court so this is a record already,” Medvedev said post-match.

“You can’t beat Jannik easy. At one moment he was not feeling good but I knew that could change. You want to make him suffer a bit more – in a good way. But everything is well when it ends well, so I’m pretty happy.”

Not only was Sinner not feeling great, but Sinner hurt his ankle in the second set, enabling Medvedev to serve out that set and break even at a set apiece. Admitting he felt dizzy, Sinner called for the trainer at 1-2 in the third set and spent 11 minutes carefully monitored for oxygen levels. He returned and fought to the end only to lose the third in a tiebreak.

Finding a second wind at the start of the fourth set, Sinner took an early break and was able to force a decider on the Russian. However it was the fifth seed who had the last laugh, getting up to win in a huge fifth set and move onto the semi-finals.

Sinner served well with 17 aces to only four double faults, as well as winning 80 and 53 per cent of his first and second serve points. By comparison, Medvedev produced 15 aces and a whopping 11 double faults, as well as only winning 45 per cent of his second serve points. The Russian hit less winners (56-61) and more unforced errors (49-45), as well as winning less total points (160-164) but found a way to win in the most Medvedev way ever.

AROUND THE COURTS

In the other gentlemen’s singles quarter final, third seed Carlos Alcaraz came from a set down to defeat American 12th seed Tommy Paul. The Spaniard served seven aces and won 66 and 63 per cent of his first and second serve points among 36 winners and 37 unforced errors, while Paul was too inconsistent with his power, whacking away 51 unforced errors to only 21 winners. In the end, the score was 5-7 6-4 6-2 6-2 with Alcaraz breaking eight times from 27 chances to Paul’s four from 10.

“Today was a really difficult match for me,” Alcaraz said post-match. “At the beginning of the first set and the beginning of the second set, it was kind of like I was playing on clay: big rallies, over 10 or 15 shots every point.

“I had to stay there strong mentally when I lost the first set. It was kind of difficult a little bit for me but I know this is a long journey, really long match so I had just had to stay there. I’m really happy to find the solutions and the good path.”