Day five meant quarter-finals day, and the first of the four was Jacob Fearnley versus Jiri Lehekca. This was Fearnley’s first ATP tour quarter-final. His opponent, Jiri Lehecka has played at a very high level this week, with wins over Alex De Minaur and Gabriel Diallo. Both players broke each other consecutively at the start of the 1st set, but it was at 5-5 that Lehecka got the winning break to serve for the opener, winning 7-5. With Lehecka on top, Fearnley saved 3 points in the first game of the second set, but this wasn’t enough to swing the momentum. At 2-2 Lehecka got the break of serve he needed, and won 4 matches in a row to finish off the match 7-5, 6-2 in just 1 hour 17 minutes.
Next on Centre Court was British number 1 Jack Draper against the USA’s Brandon Nakashima. Despite an early break for Draper, this was a really close first set with both players pushing their opponent on their service games. Draper was able to hold strong on his serve though to come out the 6-4 winner in the first set. It remained tense on Centre Court as the second set was yet again very tight. With Nakashima serving first, Draper had to serve to stay in the set, but his opponent took his chance and broke to win it 7-5. This very close match up was into a decider. Both players were staying firm on their serve until 3-3 when Draper made his move to get the crucial first break of serve in the final set. Positioned to serve for the match, Draper saved two break points at 15-40 and held serve to win the match 6-4, 5-7, 6-4. This is the first semi-final here for the Brit and means he claims the world number 4 spot. He will face Jiri Lehecka tomorrow.
The third match of the day saw Carlos Alcaraz, straight off the back of yesterday’s epic win, face Arthur Rinderknech, who beat Reilly Opelka in straight sets yesterday evening after qualifying for the main draw as a lucky loser. At 6’5” Rinderknech’s biggest weapon is his serve, and it was clear from the start that as long as Carlos could get the better of him in a couple of service games, this would be quite a straightforward match for the number 1 seed. It took one break in the first set for Alcaraz to set himself up to serve it out for a 7-5 win. In the 2nd set, once again only one break was needed for the Spaniard, and with 2/2 break points converted in the match, the job was done. Alcaraz finished the match off 7-5, 6-4 in just 1 hour 20 minutes to return to the Queen’s semi-finals.
In the last quarter-final, the comeback king of the tournament, Roberto Bautista Agut faced Holger Rune. The first set was a close encounter with Rune not able to show his highest level. It took a tie-break to separate them and the Spaniard, Bautista Agut, came out on top 7-5. The second set was again tight and Holger Rune, struggling to get his first serve in, didn’t look too happy with himself out on Centre Court. Yet again, a tiebreak was needed to name a winner in the set. This time the breaker went in the Dane’s favour, and so, somewhat predictably, this close contest needed a decider. In the final set Agut got himself a break up, and with a hold of serve, lead 3-0. Bautista Agut didn’t waver in his service games and booked his place in the semi-finals with a 7-6, 6-7, 6-2 victory – he’ll face Carlos Alcaraz tomorrow.
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