The seventh-seeded Russian defeated the Kazakh Alexander Bublik in a thrilling duel 7:5,6:3,6:7(6),6:7(5),6:4. In the women’s No. 4 seeded billionaire’s daughter Jessica Pegula of the USA and Czech Marketa Vondrousova are the first quarter-finalists at the £44.7million Major.
Pegula didn’t give Lesia Zurenko a chance at 6:1,6:3 in 75 minutes. Vondrousova had more trouble with her compatriot Marie Bouzkova with 2:6,6:4,6:3. Also in the last eight is the Italian Jannik Sinner, who defeated the Colombian Daniel Galan in three sets with 7:6(4),6:4,6:3.
In the duel with Bublik, Rublew already looked like the sure winner with a 2-0 lead in the set. After a lost tie-break, the Russian missed two match points in the fourth round at a score of 5: 4. Bublik subsequently won the second tie-break of the game, but in the end even 39 aces hit by the 26-year-old Kazakh couldn’t prevent defeat. After 3:17 hours, Rublew used his third match point. In the quarterfinals, the Russian meets either Novak Djokovic or Hubert Hurkacz.
Because of the rain delays, the Russian child prodigy Mirra Andreyeva did not play the third round until Sunday. The 16-year-old qualifier continued her series with her sixth win in a row: she defeated her compatriot Anastasia Potapova, number 22, 6:2,7:5. “It feels incredible,” said Andreyeva, who had already qualified for the third round of her first Grand Slam tournament in Paris a few weeks ago. The 102nd before Wimbledon has thus further secured her place in the top 100, she meets Madison Keys (USA) in the round of 16.
The game between Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrow and number 10 seeded Frances Tiafoe, which was canceled the day before, was also only a third-round game. The American also had no chance in the sequel, Dimitrov swept the ex-Vienna finalist off the “sacred” lawn with 6: 2.6: 3.6: 2. The 32-year-old Dimitrov will now have to deal with the number 6 seeded Dane Holger Rune, who is twelve years younger, in a generational duel in the round of 16. “He’s a young, talented and very dangerous player. But so am I, minus the young one,” Dimitrov joked on the pitch.
