Day 9 at The Championships hosts the first four singles quarterfinals.
Six months ago in the men’s championship match of the Australian Open, Jannik Sinner came from two-sets-down to outlast Daniil Medvedev in five, and capture his first Major title. That defeat was just the latest in a career full of Major heartbreak for Medvedev, who is now 1-5 in Slam finals, with three of those losses coming in five-setters. On Tuesday, Daniil gets a chance to avenge that loss, though it comes on grass, a surface Medvedev does not prefer.
Day 9’s other gentlemen’s singles quarterfinal sees defending champion Carlos Alcaraz take on Tommy Paul, in an even rivalry that is split at 2-2.
The ladies’ singles quarterfinals on Tuesday feature four surprising debutantes at this stage of The Championships. Qualifer Lulu Sun has come out of obscurity to make a hugely impressive run, and now faces three-time Major quarterfinalist Donna Vekic. The other quarterfinal includes two players who had never won a main draw match at Wimbledon prior to this fortnight: Jasmine Paolini and Emma Navarro.
And weather permitting, there will be plenty of doubles matches around the grounds. Rain has wreaked havoc on the doubles scheduling thus far, so doubles play on Tuesday hosts anywhere from first round to quarterfinal action.
Throughout the tournament, this preview will analyze the day’s four most prominent matches, while highlighting the other notable matches on the schedule. Tuesday’s play is scheduled to begin at 11:00am local time.
Lulu Sun on Centre Court (twitter.com/wimbledon)
Lulu Sun (Q) vs. Donna Vekic – 1:00pm on No.1 Court
23-year-old Sun was a huge underdog in the last round against Emma Raducanu, yet walked onto Centre Court and struck 52 winners to win match in style. It’s been quite a run for Lulu since the beginning of qualifying two weeks ago, as she’s already won seven matches. And as Ravi Ubha reminded on Twitter, she even saved a match point in the second round of qualifying. Coming into this event, Sun had never won a match at a Major, as this is only her second appearance at this level. But Lulu is now 31-13 this season at all levels, with two ITF-level titles.
Vekic obviously has a huge edge in experience, as she’s consistently played in Majors since 2013. Her prior quarterfinals came at the 2019 US Open, and the 2023 Australian Open. But she lost both of those quarterfinals in straight sets, so will her experience help her or hurt her? Often, the longer a player fails to go deep at a Major, the harder that is to overcome. And this is the first Major quarterfinal where Vekic is the higher-ranked player, which places a lot of pressure on her shoulders.
However, grass may be Donna’s best surface. Five of her career 13 WTA finals have come on grass, including the week right before this event in Bad Homburg. And she is coached by a Hall of Famer who knows all about winning on this surface: Pam Shriver, who is a five-time Wimbledon champion in women’s doubles, and a three-time semifinalist in singles.
As impressive as Lulu has been these last few weeks, a letdown following such a monumental, emotional victory is almost inevitable. And Donna has been striking the ball rather crisply through four rounds, enabling her to pull out a trio of three-setters. Vekic is the favorite to achieve her first Major semifinal.
Daniil Medvedev waving to the crowd (twitter.com/wimbledon)
Jannik Sinner (1) vs. Daniil Medvedev (5) – 1:30pm on Centre Court
All 11 of their meetings have taken place on hard courts, and their history can be divided into two distinct eras. Medvedev won the first six, between February of 2020 and March of 2023. But within the past year, it’s been all Sinner, who has now beaten Medvedev five times in a row. Jannik claimed three tight matches last fall, before his Australian Open victory in five. And most recently, Sinner thumped Medvedev in the Miami Open semifinals by a score of 6-1, 6-2.
This past January in Melbourne, Medvedev caught Sinner off-guard by playing extremely aggressively, as opposed to his usual counter-punching style. And it worked for the first two sets, before Jannik made some adjustments. And a depleted Daniil, who had already played three five-setters that fortnight, ran out of gas. Medvedev tried to repeat that strategy in Miami, but Sinner was expecting it this time, and it failed miserably.
Both players should be fully fresh for this quarterfinal, as they’ve both lost only two sets thus far, and Medvedev only played eight games in his last round, as Grigor Dimitrov retired due to injury. But this surface certainly favors Sinner, and the World No.1 has been nearly unstoppable this season, with a record of 42-3. The Italian is a considerable favorite to defeat Daniil for a sixth consecutive time, and reach his second consecutive Wimbledon semifinal.
Carlos Alcaraz thanking the crowd (twitter.com/wimbledon)
Carlos Alcaraz (3) vs. Tommy Paul (12) – Second on No.1 Court
All four of their prior meetings took place at Masters 1000 tournaments in North America between August of 2022 and August of 2023. Paul prevailed in Canada two years in a row, both times winning a third set 6-3. Alcaraz won in Miami and Cincinnati, in a two-setter and a three-setter.
Alcaraz is certainly the favorite in their rubber match, as he’s on an 11-match winning streak at SW19. And along with Sinner and Djokovic, he has separated himself from the field as one of the three best men’s singles players in the world. However, Carlitos has looked vulnerable during this event, both in a five-set win over Frances Tiafoe, and a four-set win over Ugo Humbert.
And Paul is one of the only ATP players who has the all-around skills to rival that of Alcaraz. When he’s playing his best, which he has in comfortably winning his last two rounds, Tommy doesn’t have an obvious hole in his game. So while I’m still backing Alcaraz to advance, I’m expecting a prolonged, entertaining battle.
Jasmine Paolini during the first week (twitter.com/wimbledon)
Jasmine Paolini (7) vs. Emma Navarro (19) – Second on Centre Court
They have met three times, all within the past 12 months, and all three matches have gone to Navarro. The American won in straights in both San Diego and Doha, while most recently winning in three just a few months ago in Miami, via a third-set score of 6-0.
However, Paolini is playing with more confidence now than ever, coming off her thrilling run to the final of Roland Garros, and picking up the first four Wimbledon victories of her career. Jasmine claimed the first three in straights, while she survived a close call against Madison Keys in the last round, with Keys unable to close out the match due to injury, eventually retiring at 5-5 in the third.
Navarro has also dropped just one set, and appeared completely nonplussed during Centre Court upsets over two Major champions: Naomi Osaka and Coco Gauff. Emma was the more confident, consistent, and composed player in both of those matches, forcing errors and negativity out of both Naomi and Coco.
Based on those performances, as well as her rather dominant history against Paolini, I like Navarro’s chances of achieving her first Major semifinal.
Jelena Ostapenko on Monday (twitter.com/wimbledon)
Other Notable Matches on Tuesday:
Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend (4) vs. Lyudmyla Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko (9) – This is a quarterfinal match in ladies doubles. Siniakova is now an eight-time Major champion in women’s doubles, after winning the last Slam alongside Coco Gauff. Townsend is a two-time Major runner-up, while Kichenok and Ostapenko were runners-up six months ago in Melbourne.
Su-wei Hsieh and Elise Mertens (1) vs. Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula (11) – This is another ladies’ doubles quarterfinal. Mertens has reached the Wimbledon final in ladies’ doubles three years running, winning it in 2021 alongside Su-wei, who also won this event a year ago with Barbora Strycova. Gauff and Pegula are one-time Major finalists as a team, while Coco has now reached three Major finals in women’s doubles.
Tuesday’s full Order of Play is here.
