Rafael Nadal, the 22-time Grand Slam champion, makes it through to his 47th major quarter-final and his eighth at Wimbledon; the Spaniard faces Taylor Fritz in a repeat of their Indian Wells final which the American won
Tuesday 5 July 2022 00:04, UK
Rafael Nadal marched into his eighth Wimbledon quarter-final where he will meet Taylor Fritz, while 2019 winner Simona Halep made a ruthless return to Centre Court.
Nadal had defeated Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp on his way to the French Open title last month and he repeated the trick at the All England Club with an efficient 6-4 6-2 7-6 (8-6) victory.
Success over the Dutchman in two hours and 22 minutes saw proceedings on Centre Court end two hours before the 11pm curfew that almost left defending champion Novak Djokovic in limbo on Sunday, and ensured the Spaniard stayed on course for the calendar year Grand Slam.
It sets up a reunion with Fritz, who beat the world No 4 in the Indian Wells final in March - a match Nadal played with a stress fracture of a rib. He then needed radio-wave treatment on a nerve in his left foot last month to make it to SW19, but constant talk of his fitness is wearing down the 22-time major champion.
"I am a little bit tired to talk about my body," Nadal said. "Sometimes I am tired about myself, all the issues that I am having. I prefer to not talk about that now. Sorry for that.
"But I am in the middle of the tournament and I have to keep going. All respect for the rest of the opponents. I am just trying my best every single day. For the moment I am healthy enough to keep going and fight for the things that I want.
"It takes a lot of mental and physical effort to try to play this tournament after the things that I went through the last couple of months. But as everybody knows, Wimbledon is a tournament that I like so much.
"I have been three years without playing here. I really wanted to be back. That's what I am doing. So that's why it means a lot for me to be in the quarter-finals."
American 11th seed Fritz comfortably defeated Australia's Jason Kubler 6-3 6-1 6-4 to reach his first Grand Slam quarter-final.
Fritz, who has yet to drop a set in the tournament, said: "My first Grand Slam quarter-final, that's really a big deal.
"Part of the final eight and... I'm glad I could get the win on the Fourth of July, being American."
It was Fritz's eighth straight victory on grass after winning the Wimbledon warm-up tournament in Eastbourne.
Simona Halep, playing on Centre Court for the first time since winning the title in 2019, reached the quarter-finals with a 6-1 6-2 victory over world No 4 Paula Badosa to extend her winning streak at the All England Club to 11 matches.
The Romanian smashed 17 winners, kept a tab on her errors and broke Badosa's serve five times to close out the victory in just under an hour.
"It was the place that I wanted to be today. I think I played a great match," Halep said. "It's always tough to play against her, she's a great player.
"Always nervous before, but I enjoyed a lot to be back on Centre Court, in front of this beautiful crowd, always supporting me. It's a pleasure to be back here."
Badosa's shock defeat means No 3 seed Ons Jabeur is the only top-10 seed left in the women's tournament.
Halep will meet Amanda Anisimova, the last remaining American woman in the singles, for a place in Thursday's semi-finals.
Anisimova, 20, ended the fairy-tale debut of Harmony Tan as the Frenchwoman was beaten 6-2 6-3.
World No 115 Tan, who stunned 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams in a late-night epic on day two, backed up that win with two more impressive performances.
But she was no match for 20th seed Anisimova whose powerful baseline game got the job done in 74 minutes.
Moscow-born Elena Rybakina is also through after beating Petra Martic of Croatia 7-5 6-3.
Rybakina, 23, is able to compete at Wimbledon despite the ban on Russian players as she switched allegiance to Kazakhstan in 2018.
The 17th seed has yet to drop a set this fortnight and said: "I'm really happy that all these matches I managed to win in two sets.
"I'm enjoying my time here now because I didn't have much expectation. I didn't have good preparation.
"I didn't start the grass season well in two other tournaments but I knew that the surface suits my game very good and in the end I'm just trying to enjoy every match I play."
Rybakina will play unseeded Australian Ajla Tomljanovic, who beat Iga Swiatek's conqueror Alize Cornet of France 4-6 6-4 6-3.
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