Italy’s Sinner and Paolini in semi-final bid
The quarter-final stage of Wimbledon begins at the All England Club on Tuesday.
World number one Jannik Sinner takes on Russian fifth seed Daniil Medvedev while Spanish third seed Carlos Alcaraz is up against American Tommy Paul.
Qualifier Lulu Sun faces unseeded Croatian Donna Vekic in the women’s draw, with Italy’s Jasmine Paolini playing American 19th seed Emma Navarro.
TOP MEN’S MATCH: SINNER V MEDVEDEV
Sinner and Medvedev’s meeting is a repeat of this year’s Australian Open final, where the Italian came from two sets down to win his first Grand Slam.
Both had their best run at Wimbledon last year when reaching the semi-final stage but only one can match that this year, and while Medvedev has the slightly better head-to-head record, Sinner has recent form on his side.
This will be their 12th meeting, and after Medvedev won the first six matches, Sinner has now won the last five and this will be their first clash on grass, where the world number one is unbeaten this year.
Sinner had the perfect Wimbledon warm-up when winning Halle last month, his fourth title this year, whereas the Russian went out in the second round.
TOP WOMEN’S MATCH: PAOLINI V NAVARRO
Italian 28-year-old Paolini is having her best ever season, and will look to continue breaking new ground against Navarro, who is also having a year to remember.
Neither player had previously made it past the first round at Wimbledon but both will be brimming with confidence as they aim for a semi-final spot where they would face an unseeded player and the perfect chance of a place in the final.
Paolini had never reached the third round of a Grand Slam before making the Australian Open fourth round this year and followed that up by making the French Open final, and also won her first ATP 1000 title in Dubai this year.
Navarro defeated fellow American and second seed Coco Gauff in straight sets in the last round while Paolini advanced thanks to an injury to Madison Keys which forced the American to withdraw.
Paolini will need to overturn the head-to-head record, having lost all three previous meetings with Navarro, two of which came this year, but this will be their first clash on grass.
OTHER QUARTER-FINAL CLASHES
Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz continues his quest to retain his Wimbledon title with the Spaniard playing 12th seed Tommy Paul.
A win for Alcaraz could see him renew his rivalry with Sinner in a semi-final meeting, but Paul has had the better preparation for the grass season.
Alcaraz, who won the French Open this year, failed to retain his Queen’s Club Championship last month when he lost to Jack Draper in the second round, but Paul then defeated Draper in the next round and reached the final, where he beat Lorenzo Musetti.
In the women’s draw, while only two of the top 10 seeds remain in the competition, qualifier Sun has had a long road to reach the quarter-finals where she faces Vekic.
The New Zealand born 23-year-old turned professional in 2022, and made her Grand Slam main draw debut in Australia this year but went out in the first round.
Zheng Qinwen reached the Australian Open final but was dumped out of Wimbledon by Sun in the first round, who had to win three qualifying matches to get there.
In the fourth round, Sun surprised again by knocking out home crowd favourite Emma Raducanu, and the player ranked 123rd in the world coming into Wimbledon now aims to keep up her stunning run against Vekic, ranked 37th.
WIMBLEDON ORDER OF PLAY ON TUESDAY
Here is the order of play on the main showcourts on the ninth day of Wimbledon (prefix number denotes seeding):
CENTRE COURT (1230 GMT)
1-Jannik Sinner (Italy) v 5-Daniil Medvedev
7-Jasmine Paolini (Italy) v 19-Emma Navarro (United States)
Court One (1200 GMT)
Lula Sun (New Zealand) v Donna Vekic (Croatia)
3-Carlos Alcaraz (Spain) v 12-Tommy Paul (United States)