cinch Championships 2023: DAY FIVE!
Quarter-finals day at the cinch Championships 2023 got underway with Alex de Minaur up against Adrian Mannarino. With a year’s experience at The Queen’s Club, De Minaur was looking good, but after somewhat of a shock victory yesterday, could Adrian Mannarino continue his form to send the seventh seed out? A slow start as both players found their groove and it but de Minaur who capitalised on a break of serve to take the first set 6-4. Mannarino wasn’t fnished just yet, heading into the second set with some real ferocity and levelling the score with his own 6-4 victory. Into a third set we went, and with not much between the two it was both player’s game for the taking. With his recent Queen’s experience however, it was de Minaur who came out on top with another 6-4 win in the final set. He books his place in a second Queen’s semi final in as many years. Second quarter final up next!
The temperature on Centre Court was rising, as was the level of tennis as second seed Holger Rune and sixth seed Lorenzo Musetti got their quarter final campaigns underway. The first set fell the way of the Dane, 6-4 who looked comfortable. Musetti however, wasn’t ready to give up that easily, stepped up his game, and it was looking like we were on for the second third setter of the day. Rune, unphased, held his nerve and broke Musetti late on to take the second set 7-5 – what a match! Safe to say we’re all looking forward to seeing him light up tomorrow’s semi-finals!
By Day Five, our grass was ready to welcome the wheelchair draw to court – always a crowd pleaser – with British legends Gordon Reid and Alfie Hewett in action. The two won their respective matches and face each other in the next round! What a match that’s lined up to be!
Five o’clock hit and we still had two full matches left to enjoy. Next up was British No.1 and world no. 13, Cam Norrie who faced Sebastian Korda who, at just 22, is having a really impressive run of victories. With the crowd, (and the temperature!) well and truly warmed up, play got underway. Despite Norrie’s home crowd advantage, it was Korda who set off out of the blocks fastest, taking the first set 6-4. He continued his lead into the second set but after some fantastic play and seemingly intuitive challenges, Norrie fought his way back to take the second set to a tie break. Although the crowd was right behind Norrie, blink and you would miss the first few points as Korda went 4-0 up in the tie break. No way back for Norrie who bows out of this year’s cinch Championships, making way for the American who books his semi final place on his Queen’s debut.
Last but certainly not least, saw first seed and World Number 2, Carlos Alcaraz take on the only former Queen’s champion left in the draw, Grigor Dimitrov. An early break of serve for the Spaniard in the first set saw him open up the gap straight away, taking the first set 6-4. Against the grain, the Queen’s expert took the opening three games of the second set. Could we be going to a third? Not if Alcaraz had anything to say about it, as he grafted hard to bring it back to 3-3. Dimitrov rallied hard but Alcaraz proved too strong and clinched his semi final place, to face Sebastian Korda.
Bring on Finals weekend!