Key events
Emma John’s report on Raducanu’s defeat to Sun has entered the blogosphere. Navarro has broken back against Gauff, making it 3-3 in the first set. With that, sadly, we’ve run out of time and will have to wrap things up for the night. Enjoy the rest of the action and join us again tomorrow for more last-16 drama.
Paul has won a second-set tie-break against Bautista Agut, making it 6-2, 7-6 (4) in their last-16 clash. Gauff, meanwhile, has a first break against Navarro and now leads 3-2 on serve.
Gauff pushes and probes, but Navarro holds to make it 2-1. It’s been an even start to the match.
Emma Navarro and Coco Gauff are up next on Centre Court. Both have held their opening service games, making it 1-1 with Navarro on serve.
Bryan Armen Graham’s match report from Jannik Sinner’s straight-sets win over Ben Shelton has landed. Go on, give it a read.
Here’s the point which decided the match. Raducanu gave it everything, but Sun fully deserved the win.
Over in the men’s singles, Tommy Paul leads Roberto Bautista Agut 6-2, 3-2 as things stand. The world No 112 is on serve.
Sun takes her spot for her post-match interview, shedding a few tears as she’s congratulated for making her first Wimbledon quarter-final. “Emma, it was a great match against her,” she says. “She really dug deep in there to get the win from me, so I really had to fight tooth and nail against her because she’s obviously going to run for every ball and fight until the end. I don’t even have the words right now!”
Lulu Sun beats Emma Raducanu 6-2, 5-7, 6-2
It’s a battling last game from Raducanu, but ultimately not enough. She takes it to deuce, Sun skimming the line with a cross-court missile only for Raducanu to answer in kind. Raducanu takes advantage, but Sun slashes a winner to the corner. Sun then wins an acrobatic rally and, on match point, thunders a serve which Raducanu sends back beyond the baseline.
Twice Raducanu pulls ahead on serve, and twice Sun drags herself level with agile movement and deft shot selection. She lashes a return down the line to make it 30-40 and Raducanu is left in serious trouble. Sun turns the screw, finding the corners, but sends the killer shot long as the double break beckons. The pair trade advantage, Sun hits an unstoppable return, Raducanu double faults and, just like that, Sun has her double break after all and can see things out at 5-2.
Sun opens with a double fault, bringing another roar of encouragement for Raducanu. A stray shot makes it 0-30 and Raducanu has an opening. She fails to return a fairly manageable second serve, then spoons a shot to give Sun a simple forehand smash. At 30-30, Sun finds the corner with a well-placed zinger. A snappy rally ends with Raducanu finding the net, much to Sun’s relief.
It’s a decent service game from Raducanu, though not without mistakes. She finishes up with a forehand smash down the line which is well beyond Sun’s reach.
Sun and Raducanu exchange sliced backhands at 15-0, with Sun sending the ball long to bring up 15-15. Raducanu then forces another error to a huge cheer from the stands. At 15-30, Raducanu misses a return down the line. Sun then reels off two points to hold and make it 3-1.
That’s my cue to dive headfirst into another intriguing evening of tennis. Raducanu holds her serve to make it 1-2, gesturing animatedly to her box afterwards.
Righto, I’m off for a little break – though afore I go, Sun holds for 2-0 in the third – so here’s Will Magee to chill with you through the next hour.
Medvedev says he’s had great matches with Dimitrov, great points, and he was looking forward to competing against him on grass. He hopes it’s nothing serious and doesn’t have much to say about the match.
Asked if the rest will be helpful, he notes that Sinner won in three today so won’t be flagging. The world no 1 beat him in five sets last time, four of which were close, and he’s looking forward to having a go at him on the green.
While all that’s going on, Sun breaks Raducanu – she’s carried on playing as she was before, ignoring the disastrous end to set two. She leads 1-0 in the third.
Daniil Medvedev (5) beats Grigor Dimitrov (10) 5-3 w/o
Dimitrov serves and he can’t push off thereafter so he calls it. What a shame that is – the second match today we’ve had taken from us, the second player today who’s had their tournament taken from them. Dimitrov departs to a standing ovation and I feel ill for him – he’s played so well to get here and looked capable of really doing something. Life, eh. Medvedev meets Sinner next in a repeat of the Aussie Open final, won by the latter from two sets down.
Gosh, in the time it takes me to type that, Medvedev holds to love for 5-3 and I fear Griggzy isn’t long for this match; he just can’t move.
My guess is both keep going, but whether they can move as before remains to be seen. And yup, here’s Griggzy, ready to play but not moving freely – Medvedev will now serve leading 4-3 – and Raducanu resumes with an ace for 30-all in the first game of the decider.
Both players take medical timeouts. Raducanu takes a back massage while Dimitrov goes off, and I fear for both.
I can’t overstate how well Sun played until those loose points at the end of set two. She has dominated this match, leading from the start and holding more easily, but as I type, Raducanu slips chasing after a forehand, legs giving way underneath her, and she doesn’t look happy, calling out the trainer. On which point, Dimitrov is limping; we see what happened again and he seemed to jar his knee, so he too calls for the trainer having been broken for 4-3. Since hurting himself, he’s not looked the same player.
Oh but Griggzy, when my eyes were elsewhere, slipped, and he’s not moving as well as before; let’s hope he runs it off.
On Centre, Raducanu is back, so here comes our decider…
The crowd on Centre are getting going now and Raducanu takes a break, so we focus on some suits opening Opal Fruits; it’s compelling stuff I can tell you. On No 1, meanwhile, Medvedev has broken back so trails Griggzy 2-3 and he’s in the match now.
Raducanu wins the second set 7-5. We go to a decider!
Up 6-5 in set two, Raducanu makes 15-30 and Sun has to think about things for the first time. Not too hard though! A fantastic backhand sends Raducanu out wide and a thunderous forehand that breaks the sideline is enough for 30-all. But a overhit overhead hands cedes set point … but another huge forehand confiscates it. No matter: Raducanu murders a forehand winner down the line, Sun flings a backhand long, and into a decider we go! Sun has played so so well, but she’s punished for a momentary lapse and will have to speak harshly to herself to avoid dwelling on it. Sun 6-2 5-7 Raducanu
Hat on backwards, 33 years old. Code violation Mr Dimitrov in my opinion.
Next on No 2 Court: Tommy Paul (12) v Roberto Bautista Agut.
Raducanu holds for 5-4, sealing the game with an ace, but sun just won’t go away and quickly levels the set again, while Dimitrov breaks Medvedev at the first time of asking for 2-0.
Donna Vekic beats Paulo Badosa 6-2 1-6 6-4
Vekic enjoys a good old cry followed by a hearty laugh. The last eight is the furthest she’s ever gone at Wimbledon and she meets Sun or Raducanu next; she’ll take that.
Sun is made to work a little harder for her hold this time around but she makes it all the same to lead 6-2 4-4. Meantime on No 2, Vekic leads Badosa 5-4 on serve in the third.
I quite fancy Dimitrov – who’s playing great – to diddle Medvedev, who doesn’t move great on grass. Perhaps he can serve well enough to compensate, and perhaps he’s playing better than he has done at Wimbledon before, but I think he’ll have a problem against a defter, craftier opponent.
Huge growling from Raducanu when she serves an ace for 30-all, but she’s soon down 30-40 … thrashing away on the forehand until Sun can’t take any more. That was really brave play – she might’ve taken power off to be on the safe side – and when facing another break point shortly afterwards, she again goes hard, a forehand winner doing the job, then two more huge ones give her advantage. From there, she closes out, and she’s just about staying in this, down 2-6 4-3.
Raducanu struggles through a hold, then Sun quickly earns one of her own to love; she leads 6-2 3-3, while Vekic, up 4-3 in the third, returns to No 2 Court alongside Badosa.
Next on No 1 Court: Grigor Dimitrov (10) v Daniil Medvedev (5).
Sinner says it was a very tough match, especially the third set – he had to save a set point at 5-6 and is very glad he closed it in three as it was the kind of contest that can go long. He can’t really explain his improvised tweener, which he reckons was a fluke, but he and his team work really hard for the big moments and to put on a show. He hopes his next match, his third Wimbledon quarter in a row, will be a good one to watch and enjoy; he’s looking forward to it.
Jannik Sinner (1) beats Ben Shelton (14) 6-2 6-4 7-6(9)
Shelton has his moments but Sinner played some terrific stuff, especially early on, and a double sends him into a quarter-final with either Daniil Medvedev (5) ot Griggzy Dimitrov (10).
Sinner raises match point … so Shelton rattles an ace down the T, his dad loving it as much as we would if we were watching our own nipper. But his lad soon faces another match point…
Oh Ben! He tries a colossal inside-out forehand but gives it just too much pop and that’s his set-point gone. This, though, is now a match, but can Shelton prolong it beyond this breaker? Back on Centre, Raducanu fights through a long and arduous hold to trail 2-6 2-1.
First mini-break goes to Sinner at 3-2 and big serves cement it, but then he goes long – I think, because my coverage jumps – so we’re at 5-5, then Shelton carves a gorgeous forehand winner down the line to raise set point!
Shelton secures himself a breaker with a hold for 6-5, then at 30-all next game, Sinner goes long to cede set point … only for the young American to net a forehand when offered a weak second serve. From there, Sinner closes out, so we’ll now enjoy a breaker. On Centre, meanwhile, Sun leads Raducanu 6-2 1-1.
Shelton holds for 5-4 in the third and when Sinner sends a forehand long, at 30-all he’s two points away from the set. Yeah, alright then. Up 40-30, Sinner steps away when a ball rushes towards his tootsies, playing a kind of hotdog by jamming racket between legs, before putting away a forehand. That is ridiculous.
Raducanu thwacks a forehand and Sun lets it go … rightly so because it falls out. It cements a 6-2 first set for the qualifier – the first set the former US Open champ has lost this tournament – and she’s staying nice and composed out there.
Sun breaks again and she’s loving it out there! Raducanu just can’t get herself going – her first serve hasn’t been as reliable as usual today – and down 5-2, the first set seem set to forsake her.
ABSOLUTE SAKE! Vekic-Badosa is a really great ruckus now, the former up 4-3 in the third on serve … so of course it resumes raining.
Back on Centre, Sun leads Raducanu 4-2 and remains the better player.
Just like that, Sinner makes 0-40, and though Shelton responds with a service-winner, an ill-advised drop is given the treatment and we’re all square in the third at 4-4.
Gosh, serving at 6-2 6-4 1-4, Sinner leaps into a drive-volley and just about lands the ball inside the line; he holds, but Shelton is serving and playing much better now, and if he manages to nick the set, we could have a seriously exciting fourth.