London: Polish World No. 18 Hubert Hurkacz completed a comeback in a rain-interrupted clash against Russian World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev to secure a Wimbledon quarterfinals spot with a 2-6, 7-6(6-22), 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory. He will face idol Roger Federer in the next round.
Resuming at 4-3 in the fourth set on Tuesday, after the rain stopped play on Monday evening, the Polish 14th seed continued attacking the net and finally defeated Medvedev in three hours and two minutes.
“Playing on this unbelievable court, probably the best in the world, with an amazing crowd is really special,” said Hurkacz, in an on-court interview on Tuesday evening. “Daniil is an unbelievable player. We battled so hard. So to win is incredible… I knew I needed to get off to a strong start today and I think I did a pretty good job.”
Hurkacz is the fifth Polish man to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals and will now aim to emulate Jerzy Janowicz, who advanced to the last four in 2013. Hurkacz has met Federer once before when the 24-year-old lost 6-4, 6-4 at the 2019 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.
“Roger, what he does, the titles he has won, is a real inspiration,” said Hurkacz. “I will be hoping to get a little bit of support tomorrow.” In the other quarterfinal, Márton Fucsovics will take on Novak Djokovic while Karen Khachanov and Denis Shapovalov will fight for a semifinal spot.
Meanwhile, in the women’s singles, World No.1 Ashleigh Barty made short work of Ajla Tomljanovic in a clash of two Australian players to enter her maiden semifinal. Barty outplayed her compatriot 6-1, 6-3 in just over an hour at the All-England Club Centre Court.
The Australian will take on 2018 winner Angelique Kerber of Germany, who defeated 19th seed Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-3. Earlier, second seed Aryna Sabalenka ended the fairytale run of upcoming Tunisian star Ons Jabeur, winning 6-4, 6-3 in their quarterfinal.
She will now meet eighth seed Karolina Pliskova, who outplayed Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland 6-2, 6-2 to make the last-four stage. Karolina has now reached the semifinals in all four Grand Slam events. She had entered the last four stage at the 2016 US Open, the 2017 French Open and the 2019 Australian Open.
